* Syllabary: Each symbol represents a syllable, not a single letter. For example, a symbol could represent "ba", "da", or "ka".
* Logographic: Some symbols represent entire words, especially common ones like "king", "country", or "god".
Therefore, not every word has a separate symbol. Here's why:
* Words are built from syllables: Words are made up of multiple syllables, each needing its own symbol.
* Common words are simplified: Frequent words are represented by single logograms for brevity.
Think of it like this: You could write "the cat sat on the mat" using an alphabet, but it would be much quicker to use symbols representing "cat", "sat", "on", and "mat".
While cuneiform doesn't have a symbol for every word, it offers a very flexible system for writing the Akkadian, Sumerian, and other languages.