A mode of expressing words and phrases by pictures of objects whose names resemble those words or the syllables of which they are composed. These are signs that are a sort of punning logogram in which the picture of something easy to draw represents something which is difficult to draw but the name sounds the same. The Sumerian example most often used is an arrow (ti) to stand for life (also ti). An English example of a rebus message would be the picture of a bee followed by the picture of a well sent to an invalid to wish him a quick recovery (be well). Several rebuses may be combined to make a phrase or sentence. Literary rebuses use letters, numbers, musical notes, or specially placed words to make sentences. Complex rebuses combine pictures and letters. An early form of rebus occurs in picture writings, where abstract words were represented by pictures of objects pronounced the same way - e.g. Egyptian hieroglyphs and early Chinese pictographs.