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Semiotics is the study of signs or sign systems. This is applied to any kind of signs, not just words as in semantics.
The term was first coined in 1690 by John Locke in An essay concerning human understanding.
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), founder of the philosophical school of pragmatism, invented semiotics as a discipline. Spelled it semeiotic."
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the "father" of modern linguistics. Invented, at about the same time as Peirce, a subject he called "semiology."
Charles W. Morris (1901-1979) is known for his Foundations of the Theory of Signs.
Umberto Eco made a wider audience aware of semiotics by various publications, most notably A Theory of Semiotics. Explicitly acknowledges Peirce's importance.
Medical Semiotics is specifically the study of the interpretation of the patient's description of their symptoms. It is particularly important for the understanding of how patients describe pain or other symptoms which the physician can not experience or measure directly.
Literary Semiotics applies the theory of signs and also communication and information theory to the interpretation of literary works. Literary Semioticians are often interested in the attempt to apply the tools and techniques of the hard sciences, such as mathematical formulae and computer analysis of texts, to literary criticism.
Others, like the French Critic,Roland Barthes, and many Marxists, employ semiotic techniques as a tool of political and social criticism and satire. The semiotic approach is frequently applied to Pop Culture artifacts in this manner, as for example, when Barthes deconstructed tag team wrestling.