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Multiple Choice

What is the term for a writing system in which each spoken word is represented by a unique symbol?

A writing system that assigns a unique symbol to each spoken word uses logographs. In a logographic system, each symbol represents a whole word or morpheme rather than a sound, so you read by recognizing the meaning units rather than decoding pronunciation letter by letter. Chinese characters are a classic example, where many symbols correspond to different words or meaningful units. This contrasts with phonetic writing, where symbols encode sounds and can be combined to spell words. Orthography refers to the overall spelling system of a language, not to a single symbol per word, and an onset is the initial sound in a syllable, not a type of writing system. So the best term is logograph.

A writing system that assigns a unique symbol to each spoken word uses logographs. In a logographic system, each symbol represents a whole word or morpheme rather than a sound, so you read by recognizing the meaning units rather than decoding pronunciation letter by letter. Chinese characters are a classic example, where many symbols correspond to different words or meaningful units. This contrasts with phonetic writing, where symbols encode sounds and can be combined to spell words. Orthography refers to the overall spelling system of a language, not to a single symbol per word, and an onset is the initial sound in a syllable, not a type of writing system. So the best term is logograph.