signifiers

Signifier is a key term in semiotics describing the perceptible form that a sign takes, such as a sound pattern, a written word, or an image, which conveys meaning within a sign system. It is paired with the signified, the concept or mental meaning that the sign denotes. Together, they form the linguistic or semiotic sign. The signifier and signified are linked by convention; in many cases the connection between a word’s form and its meaning is arbitrary, though some signs are motivated by resemblance or context.

The concept was developed by Ferdinand de Saussure, who emphasized the dyadic nature of the sign and the importance of difference within a system of signs. Later theorists, including Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, broadened the idea. Barthes explored how signs operate within cultural codes, while Derrida argued that signifiers themselves participate in an endless chain of meaning, with the signified never having a fixed, final referent.

Signifiers can be linguistic (phonemes, graphemes) or nonlinguistic (images, gestures, sounds). For example, the spoken word “tree” and the written letters t-r-e-e are signifiers; the concept of a woody plant with a trunk and branches is the signified. A red traffic signal is another signifier that triggers the conventional behavior of stopping.

In study and critique, the term is used across linguistics, anthropology, media studies, and philosophy to analyze how meanings are produced, transmitted, and interpreted through systems of signs and the social conventions that bind them.