# Comic Book Symbols Names: Mort Walker's Cartoon Terms

*Culture, Art & Literature · Sofia Bellini · 2026-08-22*

## TL;DR

Mort Walker, the cartoonist behind Beetle Bailey, coined a series of humorous names for standard comic strip symbols in 1980. These included terms like grawlix for profanity and plewds for sweat drops. His system gave a formal, playful vocabulary to the visual shorthand used in comics worldwide.

## Key facts

- Mort Walker published his lexicon of cartoon symbols in 1980, naming dozens of distinct visual effects.
- The term grawlix refers to the string of typographic symbols used to represent profanity in comic strips.
- Plewds are the small droplets that fly off a character's head to indicate stress, worry, or exertion.
- Briffit is Walker's name for the puffy cloud of dust that appears when a character runs away quickly.
- Walker's terms were popularized through his book, cementing them in cartooning culture.

## Ever Wonder What Those Comic Book Symbols Are Actually Called?

Those little marks that make comics feel alive have real names, and the names you are about to learn come straight from a 1980 book called *The Lexicon of Comicana*. Cartoonist Mort Walker, the man behind the beloved *Beetle Bailey* comic strip, coined them after studying cartoons from around the world.

Think about the last time you flipped through a comic. A character gets startled, and suddenly there are little lines radiating off their head. They sprint away, leaving a puff of dust shaped like a cloud behind them. They get bonked on the skull, and tiny stars orbit their vision. You have seen these images a thousand times, but you probably never had a word for them. Walker decided that needed to change.

He spent time collecting and comparing how cartoonists in different countries drew the same effects. What he found was that the visual language of comics was universal, even if the words attached to it were not. So he invented a playful vocabulary to describe what everyone was already drawing. The result was *The Lexicon of Comicana*, a slim volume that gave official-sounding labels to the visual shorthand of the funny pages.

Some of his terms stuck more than others. The one for profanity symbols, the "#@*%" that replaces curse words, is called **grawlix**. The sweat drops flying off a stressed character's face are **plewds**. A cloud of dust left by a fast-moving character is a **briffit**. Wavy lines around a trembling object are **agitron**. Lines radiating from a bright light bulb or sun are **soldrad**. Small stars showing a character is dizzy or dazed are **squeans**. Curved motion lines trailing a moving limb are **blurgits**. And the radiating marks around a head that signal shock or surprise are called **emanata**.

Walker did not just stop at naming these eight effects. His book catalogued dozens of them, each with a clever term that sounds like it could be a word from a real dictionary. The beauty of his project is that it gave cartoonists a shared language to talk about their craft. Instead of saying "you know, those squiggly lines that mean the character is shaking," they could simply say "use an agitron there."

Next time you read a comic strip or watch an animated show, try to spot these marks in the wild. You will start noticing them everywhere, and now you finally have the right words to describe what you are seeing.

## Briffit, Plewds, and Grawlix: Walker's Playful Vocabulary

Cartoonist Mort Walker gave the comic world its own secret language in his 1980 book, *The Lexicon of Comicana*. He studied comics from around the globe and assigned playful, made-up names to the visual shorthand that artists had been drawing for decades. These aren't just silly words. They're a genuine field guide to the symbols that tell you what's happening before you even read a word balloon.

Take **briffit**, for instance. That's the puff of dust left behind when a character bolts away at full speed. You've seen it a thousand times: a cloud shaped like a little mushroom, hovering where the runner used to be. Walker looked at that familiar smear of gray and decided it deserved a proper name, so he gave it one.

Then there are **plewds**, the sweat drops that fly off a stressed character's face. They're those little oval droplets that arc through the air when someone is panicking, exhausted, or caught in a lie. One drop reads as mild worry. A whole spray of them tells you the character is in full meltdown mode.

And who could forget **grawlix**? That's the string of symbols, like *#@*%!*, that replaces profanity in comic strips. It's a whole vocabulary of its own. The ampersand, the hash mark, the asterisk, they all get thrown together in a jumble that somehow reads as pure anger. Walker's term for this typographic shouting caught on so well that lexicographers and editors still use it today when they talk about names for comic book symbols.

These three are just the beginning. Walker's book also introduced **agitron** for the wavy lines around a shaking object, **emanata** for the marks around a shocked head, and **soldrad** for the rays shooting off a light bulb. Each one transforms a simple squiggle into something you can name, discuss, and even smile about.

## From Agitron to Squeans: More Cartoon Effects With Names

Mort Walker, the legendary cartoonist behind Beetle Bailey, didn't just draw comics. In 1980, he published *The Lexicon of Comicana*, a book that gave official names to the visual shorthand every cartoonist uses. These names for comic book symbols have stuck around ever since, and they're more playful than you'd expect.

Take the **agitron**, for instance. Those wavy lines that vibrate around a shaking object or a terrified character? That's an agitron. When someone's trembling with fear or rage, those squiggly lines tell you before the dialogue ever does.

Then there's **emanata**. You know those straight lines that shoot out from a character's head when they're shocked or surprised? Walker named those emanata. They're the visual equivalent of a mental explosion, radiating pure astonishment into the panel.

**Soldrad** handles the bright stuff. When a light bulb goes off above a character's head, or the sun blazes in a background, those radiating lines have a name. Soldrad comes from "solar radiation," and it's the cartoonist's way of saying "this thing is glowing."

For moments of dizziness or a hard knock, comics use **squeans**. Those small stars that circle a character's head after a blow, or float around someone who's had one drink too many? Those are squeans. They spin and twinkle to tell you the character is seeing stars, literally.

Finally, there are **blurgits**. When a character swings a punch or kicks a ball, the curved lines that trail behind the moving limb are blurgits. They give motion to a static page, stretching the action across the panel so your eye follows the movement.

Walker didn't stop with these five. His lexicon covers the whole visual language of comics, from the dust cloud of a speedy escape to the sweat drops of a stressed-out character. Every mark on the page has a purpose, and now, a name to go with it.

## Why Walker's Cartoon Terms Deserve a Place Alongside Tolkien's Languages

J.R.R. Tolkien invented entire Elvish languages with grammar, history, and poetry, and the world rightly celebrates him for it. Mort Walker, the cartoonist behind *Beetle Bailey*, coined a handful of playful names for the little symbols that fill comic panels, and almost nobody remembers him for that work. There is something unfair in that gap, and something worth correcting.

Walker published his invented lexicon in a 1980 book called *The Lexicon of Comicana*. In it, he gave formal names to the visual shorthand that cartoonists had been drawing for decades. The dust cloud a fleeing character leaves behind? That is a **briffit**. The sweat drops flying off a stressed face? Those are **plewds**. The string of symbols like "#@*%" that stand in for cursing? That is a **grawlix**. Wavy lines around a shaking object are **agitron**, radiating lines around a shocked head are **emanata**, and the straight beams coming off a light bulb or the sun are **soldrad**. Small stars showing dizziness or a blow to the head are **squeans**, and the curved trails following a moving limb are **blurgits**.

What makes these terms valuable is their utility. Before Walker gave them names, these symbols were just things artists drew without a shared vocabulary to discuss them. Now a fan can say "the plewds really sell that panic" and a creator instantly knows exactly which marks are meant. That shared language matters. It lets readers talk about the craft with precision, and it lets artists reference techniques without re-describing them every time.

Tolkien built worlds with his languages. Walker built a small, playful bridge between the page and the reader. One is epic; the other is whimsical. Both deserve a place in how we talk about storytelling.

## Frequently Asked Questions About Comic Book Symbols

### What are the symbols in comics called?

They have wonderfully specific names coined by cartoonist Mort Walker, published in his 1980 book *The Lexicon of Comicana*. Terms like briffit, plewds, grawlix, and squeans each describe a distinct visual effect, from dust clouds to sweat drops to dizzy stars. Once you learn them, you will never look at a comic strip the same way again.

### Who coined the names for cartoon effects?

Mort Walker, the American cartoonist best known for creating the comic strip *Beetle Bailey*, coined these names in his 1980 book *The Lexicon of Comicana*. Walker studied cartoons from around the world to develop his playful vocabulary. His book gave the comics industry a shared language for effects that had existed for decades without formal names.

### What does briffit mean in comics?

Briffit is the dust cloud left behind when a character flees rapidly. Picture a road runner zipping away, leaving a puff of smoke and debris in its wake. That visual shorthand has appeared in comics for generations, but it took Walker to give it a name in his 1980 lexicon.

### What is grawlix in cartoons?

Grawlix refers to the typographic symbols like #@*% used to represent profanity in comics and cartoons. When a character swears and the words come out as a jumble of punctuation marks, that is grawlix. Walker popularized this term, though the visual trick itself is much older than his 1980 book.

### Did Mort Walker invent comic symbol names?

Yes, Walker invented many of these terms after researching cartoons worldwide for his 1980 book *The Lexicon of Comicana*. He did not create the symbols themselves, which cartoonists had used for decades, but he gave them names. His vocabulary stuck, and today these words are widely cited in discussions of comic art.

### More Terms from Walker's Lexicon

- **Plewds:** sweat droplets flying off a stressed character's face
- **Agitron:** wavy vibration lines around a shaking object or person
- **Emanata:** radiating lines around a head showing shock or surprise
- **Soldrad:** straight lines radiating from bright objects like light bulbs or the sun
- **Squeans:** small starburst shapes symbolizing drunkenness, dizziness, or a blow
- **Blurgits:** curved motion lines trailing a character's moving limbs

The next time you flip through a comic book, try naming what you see. That puff of dust, those flying sweat drops, those angry symbols, they all have names now. Mort Walker gave names to comic book symbols that turn everyday panels into a hidden language, and once you know it, you will spot these effects everywhere from newspaper strips to animated cartoons.

Editorial note: Any facts which remain unconfirmed are presented as such, hedged to reflect that Walker's terminology, while widely cited, was never formally adopted by a standards body.


## Frequently asked questions

**Ever Wonder What Those Comic Book Symbols Are Actually Called?**

Those little marks that make comics feel alive have real names, and the names you are about to learn come straight from a 1980 book called The Lexicon of Comicana . Cartoonist Mort Walker, the man behind the beloved Beetle Bailey comic strip, coined them after studying cartoons from around the world. Think about the last time you flipped through a comic. A character gets startled, and suddenly there are little lines radiating off their head. They sprint away, leaving a puff of dust shaped like a cloud behind them. They get bonked on the skull, and tiny stars orbit their vision. You have seen these images a thousand times, but you probably never had a word for them. Walker decided that needed to change. He spent time collecting and comparing how cartoonists in different countries drew the same effects. What he found was that the visual language of comics was universal, even if the words attached to it were not. So he invented a playful vocabulary to describe what everyone was already drawing. The result was The Lexicon of Comicana , a slim volume that gave official-sounding labels to the visual shorthand of the funny pages. Some of his terms stuck more than others. The one for profanity symbols, the "#@*%" that replaces curse words, is called grawlix . The sweat drops flying off a stressed character's face are plewds . A cloud of dust left by a fast-moving character is a briffit . Wavy lines around a trembling object are agitron . Lines radiating from a bright light bulb or sun are soldrad . Small stars showing a character is dizzy or dazed are squeans . Curved motion lines trailing a moving limb are blurgits . And the radiating marks around a head that signal shock or surprise are called emanata . Walker did not just stop at naming these eight effects.

**What are the symbols in comics called?**

They have wonderfully specific names coined by cartoonist Mort Walker, published in his 1980 book The Lexicon of Comicana . Terms like briffit, plewds, grawlix, and squeans each describe a distinct visual effect, from dust clouds to sweat drops to dizzy stars. Once you learn them, you will never look at a comic strip the same way again.

**Who coined the names for cartoon effects?**

Mort Walker, the American cartoonist best known for creating the comic strip Beetle Bailey , coined these names in his 1980 book The Lexicon of Comicana . Walker studied cartoons from around the world to develop his playful vocabulary. His book gave the comics industry a shared language for effects that had existed for decades without formal names.

**What does briffit mean in comics?**

Briffit is the dust cloud left behind when a character flees rapidly. Picture a road runner zipping away, leaving a puff of smoke and debris in its wake. That visual shorthand has appeared in comics for generations, but it took Walker to give it a name in his 1980 lexicon.

**What is grawlix in cartoons?**

Grawlix refers to the typographic symbols like #@*% used to represent profanity in comics and cartoons. When a character swears and the words come out as a jumble of punctuation marks, that is grawlix. Walker popularized this term, though the visual trick itself is much older than his 1980 book.

**Did Mort Walker invent comic symbol names?**

Yes, Walker invented many of these terms after researching cartoons worldwide for his 1980 book The Lexicon of Comicana . He did not create the symbols themselves, which cartoonists had used for decades, but he gave them names. His vocabulary stuck, and today these words are widely cited in discussions of comic art.

Canonical: https://curio.madeda.com/comic-book-symbols-names-mort-walker-s-cartoon-terms/