asemic
|a-sem-ic|
/eɪˈsɛmɪk/
without meaning/sign
Etymology
'asemic' originates from Greek elements: the privative prefix 'a-' (meaning 'not') plus 'sema' meaning 'sign' or 'mark'.
'asemic' was formed in English in the 20th century in discussions of art and experimental writing, modelled from Greek roots (and influenced by related coinages in European languages such as French 'asémique').
Initially built from elements meaning 'not' + 'sign', its use came to denote specifically 'without semantic/linguistic meaning' — especially for writing-like marks that do not encode language.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
lacking semantic content; not conveying specific linguistic meaning — often used for marks or writings that resemble script but are unreadable.
The artist created an asemic page that looked like handwriting but carried no readable message.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/27 16:22