Rebus

allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words

A rebus is a picture, letter, number, or symbol that is used to represent a different word that has a similar pronunciation. In English, if a person was writing the sentence "I see you tonight" in a text message, the person might write "⊙ L C U 2nite", in which the symbol "⊙", which is a picture of an eye, represents the word "I" because it sounds the same, "L" stands for the contracted "will" as in "I'll", the letter "C" represents the word "see", the letter "U" represents the word "you", the number "2" represents the word "to", and the word "nite" is represents the word "night".

A rebus representing the term "top secret"