Signified and signifier

Not to be confused with Referent or Sense and reference.
"Signified" redirects here. For other uses, see Signify.

In semiotics, signified and signifier (French: signifié and signifiant) are the two main components of a sign, where signified is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of content", and signifier is the observable aspects of the sign itself, known as the "plane of expression". The idea was first proposed in the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, one of the two founders of semiotics.

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