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* a 'signifier' - the form which the sign takes; and
* the 'signified' - the concept it represents.In contrast to Saussure's 'self-contained dyad', Charles Sanders Peirce offered a triad:
* The Representamen: the form which the sign takes (not necessarily material);
* An Interpretant: not an interpreter but rather the sense made of the sign;
* An Object: to which the sign refers.For example:
Sign: The written word 'tree'
Signifier: The letters 't-r-e-e'
Signified concept: The category 'tree'
Whilst this basically 'Saussurean' model is commonly adopted, it is a more materialistic model than that of
Saussure himself.He referred to the signifier (signifiant) in terms of a 'sound-image' (image acoustique, 'the
psychological imprint of the sound'), and to the signified as a mental concept.The distinction between signifier and signified has sometimes been equated to the familiar dualism of 'form and
content': within such a framework the signifier is seen as the form of the sign and the signified as the content.Peirce's triad is often presented as 'the semiotic triangle'.