Example of pictograph

A pictograph is literally a ''picture drawing''. Pictographs are an old form of written script, predating modern forms of written language. They were common in the early Chinese and Mayan civilizations. In Chinese script, the only surviving descendant of pictographic script, they were first adapted, then superseded by ideograms, ''idea writing'', with more advanced meanings and forms. In some cases, the composition of modern ideograms retains the original pictograph concepts, stylized into modern forms.