Etymology

From French rébus, from Latin rebus (ablative plural of res ‘thing’), as taken from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur ‘concerning the things that are taking place’, used in sixteenth-century Picardie as the name for satirical pieces containing picture-riddles.

From the form of res "thing" (=rebus "of or by things"), taken from the phrase "nōn verbīs sed rébus" meaning "not by words but by things".

Noun

1. A kind of word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.