semiotic

English

Alternative forms

• semeiotic, semeiotical, semiotical

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημειωτικός (sēmeiōtikós, “observant of signs”), ultimately derived from σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign”). Compare semiotics.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɛmiːˈɒtɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒtɪk

Adjective

semiotic (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to semiotics or to semantics.
   • 2012, Michele Zappavigna, Discourse of Twitter and Social Media‎:

     Applying a meme beyond its semiotic used-by date is undesirable, lowering status.

   • 2025 August 20, Richard Garnett, “The Ten Commandments and a “secular purpose””, in SCOTUSblog:

     Especially when applying [the Lemon test] as a bar examiner might expect would have yielded glaringly ahistorical or politically inconvenient results, [the Supreme Court] regularly found reasons – longstanding historical practice, for example, or semiotic speculations about the social meanings of government actions to hypothetical “reasonable observers” – not to.

2. (medicine, dated) symptomalogical (of or relating to the signs or symptoms of diseases)

Derived terms

• anthroposemiotic
• biosemiotic
• endosemiotic
• exosemiotic
• intersemiotic
• metasemiotic
• multisemiotic
• nonsemiotic
• phytosemiotic
• psychosemiotic
• semiotically
• semiotician
• semioticist
• transsemiotic
• zoosemiotic

Translations

of or relating to semiotics or to semantics

Dutch: semiotisch (nl) Finnish: semioottinen (fi) French: sémiotique (fr) German: semiotisch (de) Interlingua: semiotic Italian: semiotico (it) Macedonian: семиотички (semiotički) Norwegian: Bokmål: semiotisk Nynorsk: semiotisk Portuguese: semiótico Romanian: semiotic (ro) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: семиотски Roman: semiotski Spanish: semiótico

References

• “semiotic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• comities

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sémiotique.

Adjective

semiotic m or n (feminine singular semiotică, masculine plural semiotici, feminine/neuter plural semiotice)

1. semiotic

Declension

Declension of semiotic

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	semiotic		semiotică		semiotici	semiotice
	definite	semioticul		semiotica		semioticii	semioticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	semiotic		semiotice		semiotici	semiotice
	definite	semioticului		semioticei		semioticilor	semioticelor