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For the Inspector Rebus series of novels see Inspector Rebus, and for the television adaptation see Rebus (TV series). Information on the eponymous detective, see Detective Inspector John Rebus.

Rebus Principle (Linguistics) is using the existing symbols, such as pictograms, purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning, to represent new words. Many ancient writing systems used Rebus principle to represent abstract words, which otherwise would be hard to be represented by pictograms. The most often used hypothetical example to illustrate the Rebus principle is the representation of the sentence “I see you” by using the pictographs of “eye – sea – ewe”.

A rebus (Latin: "by things") is a kind of word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words or parts of words; for example: H + = Hear, or Here.

The term "rebus" also refers to the use of a pictogram to represent a syllabic sound. This adapts pictograms into phonograms. A precursor to the development of the alphabet, this process represents one of the most important developments of writing.

The writing of correspondence in rebus form became popular in the 18th century and continued into the 19th century. Lewis Carroll wrote the children he befriended picture-puzzle rebus letters, nonsense letters, and looking-glass letters, which had to be held in front of a mirror to be read.[1] Rebus letters served either as a sort of code or simply as a pastime.

Contents 1 Rebuses and Heraldry 2 Examples 3 Rebuses and game shows 4 External Links 5 See also

Rebuses are used extensively in heraldry as a hint to the name of the owner of a coat of arms. This practice is known as canting. For example, the arms of the Borough of Congleton in Cheshire contain a conger eel, a lion (in Latin, leo) and a tun (another word for a barrel). This word sequence "conger leo tun" recalls the town's name.

Today, rebus puzzles are used as brainteasers and placed in IQ tests^{[citation needed]}.

The more popular rebuses contain simple English letters of the alphabet in different sizes, colors and other manipulations that often represent popular sayings and phrases.

Here are two examples of this type of rebus puzzle:

• Puzzle 1

CCCSAILINGCCCC^[1]

• Puzzle 2^[2]

LIE
KING

1. ^ Answer: Sailing in the seven seas. The word 'sailing' lies between 7 letter Cs.
2. ^ Answer: Lion King. The word "lie" can be found "on" top of the word "king" (i.e. "lie on king").

Rebuses were central to the United States television game show Concentration. Contestants had to solve a rebus, usually partially concealed, to win a game.

Lone Star Beer, "The National Beer of Texas", has rebus puzzles under the caps of its bottled beer, as does Rainier Beer.

The United Kingdom has also had a games show which requires contestants to identify a rebus. The show, Catchphrase has been a longstanding Saturday evening show, with Roy Walker as its most notable host.

• Lashon.net has Rebus puzzles in Hebrew.

• Concentration (game show)
• Word puzzle
• Pictogram
• Heraldry
• I ♥ NY