signifié

Signifié refers to the signified in Saussurean semiotics, the mental concept or meaning that a linguistic sign evokes in a language user’s mind. In this framework, a linguistic sign consists of two components: the signifier, the form of the sign (the sound pattern or the written word), and the signified, the concept or sense associated with that form. The signified is not a concrete object in the external world but the concept that speakers of a language share when they encounter the signifier.

A core feature of the sign is the arbitrariness of the link between signifier and signified. There is no inherent, natural connection between a given sound or graphic form and its meaning; the association is conventional, established through use within a community. The sign, as a unit of meaning, arises from the differential relationship among signs within a language system.

For example, the signifier “arbre” in French evokes the signified concept of a tree. The same object can have different signifieds across languages, because each language encodes meaning differently. The signified is often discussed in relation to the referent (the actual object in the world) and to the signifier (its written or spoken form); the sign is the union of the signifier and the signified.

In broader semiotics, discussions of the signified continue beyond Saussure, but in his theory it remains a foundational concept for understanding how meaning is constructed in language.