rebus
UK[ˈriːbəs]US[ˈriːbəs]
n
A puzzle consisting of pictures, symbols, letters, etc., which, when combined, represent a word or phrase.
Etymology
The word 'rebus' entered English in the early 17th century directly from the Latin phrase 'rebus', the ablative plural of 'res', meaning 'thing' or 'matter'. This Latin phrase was part of the expression 'non verbis sed rebus', translating to 'not by words but by things'. The term was originally used in heraldry to represent a name or motto by pictorial symbols that suggest the sounds of the words. The core logic of the word, therefore, lies in its origin as a representation of things (rebus) standing in for words, evolving into the modern concept of a visual word puzzle.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from Latin. It does not contain separable morphemes in its modern English spelling.
Examples
The children's magazine featured a rebus where a picture of an eye, a can, and the sea spelled out "I can see."
Solving the rebus required interpreting a sequence of letters and numbers, like "URYYB" for "hello" in a simple cipher.
The cryptic message was not written in code but was a clever rebus using emojis and icons.