From your link, &quot;pictograms&quot; are glyphs that depict the objects they represent (for example, 下 directly depicts the abstract concept of &quot;down&quot;).<p>Egyptian hieroglyphs, in their ornate form, clearly depict various items like reeds, birds, arms, and snakes. But those glyphs don&#x27;t actually refer to the reeds, birds, arms, and snakes they show; rather, the ancient Egyptian writing system is largely alphabetic. Their formal letters were just much prettier than ours.