The signifier refers to the expressive side of a linguistic sign – that is, its material or perceptible form, such as a sound, a written character, or a symbol. The signifier points to a meaning, known as the signified, which is the content or concept being referred to. Both the signifier and the signified must be distinguished from the real object, which is the actual thing in the world.
Example: The signifier “tree” (the word) refers to the signified “tree” – that is, the concept or mental image of something “tree-like”. But it does not refer to any specific tree in physical reality.
In everyday communication, signifier and signified often appear to be firmly connected. However, linguistics (e.g., in the work of Ferdinand de Saussure) shows that this connection is not natural, but arbitrary and based on cultural conventions. A signifier gains its meaning not through similarity to the signified, but through its position within the system of other signifiers.
Function in Lacan’s theory: In the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, the signifier becomes a fundamental element of the unconscious. The meaning of a single signifier is never fixed, but always in motion – it unfolds through its relation to other signifiers, in what Lacan calls the chain of signifiers.
