The field of semiotics may seem like a Tower of Babel in which newly coined words and exotic uses of ordinary words can frustrate even motivated readers. This compact resource is a key to the specialized vocabulary of a growing international community of scholars in philosophy, anthropology, literature, cultural studies, cinema, and women's studies. Clear, straightforward definitions shed light on the semiotic texts of Peirce, Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Eco, Kristeva, Derrida, Irigaray, and others.