glyph

English

WOTD – 20 June 2007

Mayan glyphs

Etymology

First attested in 1727. Borrowed from French glyphe, from Ancient Greek γλυφή (gluphḗ, “carving”), from γλύφω (glúphō, “I carve, engrave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɪf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪf

Noun

glyph (plural glyphs)

1. A figure carved in relief or incised, especially representing a sound, word, or idea.
   1. Any of various figures used in Mayan writing.
2. Any non-verbal symbol that imparts information.
3. (typography, computing) A visual representation of a letter, character, or symbol, in a specific font and style.
4. (architecture) A vertical groove.
5. A land snail of the genus Glyphyalinia
6. Any of various black-and-white noctuid moths with figural-like wing patterns, such as those in Protodeltote, Deltote, and Maliattha.

Synonyms

• (typography) sort

Derived terms

• dendroglyph
• geoglyph
• homoglyph

 

Related terms

• anaglyph
• diglyph
• hieroglyph
• petroglyph
• triglyph

 

Translations

carved relief representing a sound, word or idea

• Bulgarian: глиф m (glif)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 字形 (zh) (zìxíng), 字體／字体 (zh) (zìtǐ)

• Finnish: glyyfi, kirjoitusmerkki (fi), symboli (fi)
• French: ^{(please verify)} glyphe (fr) m (œil typographique)
• Galician: glifo m
• German: Zeichen (de) n, Symbol (de) n
• Hungarian: jel (hu), írásjel (hu), írásjegy (hu), szimbólum (hu), ^{(please verify)} glifa, ^{(please verify)} glif
• Italian: glifo (it) m
• Japanese: 字体 (ja) (じたい, jitai)
• Korean: 자체 (ko) (jache)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: glîf

• Polish: hieroglif (pl) m
• Portuguese: glifo (pt) m
• Russian: глиф (ru) m (glif), знак (ru) m (znak), си́мвол (ru) m (símvol)
• Sindhi: خَطُپارو (sd)
• Spanish: glifo (es) m

non-verbal symbol imparting information

• Finnish: symboli (fi)
• Sindhi: خَطُپارو (sd)

graphic representation of a character

• Bulgarian: символ (bg) m (simvol)
• Catalan: glif (ca) m
• Dutch: schriftteken (nl) n
• Esperanto: signobildo
• Finnish: glyyfi
• German: Glyphe (de) f
• Greek: γλύφος (el) m (glýfos)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} glifa, ^{(please verify)} glif, íráselem
• Russian: глиф (ru) m (glif)
• Sindhi: خَطُپارو (sd)
• Spanish: glifo (es) m
• Vietnamese: ký tự (vi)

vertical groove

• Hungarian: véset (hu), horony (hu), gliphé, rovátkoló díszítés, ^{(please verify)} rovátka (hu)

See also

• ligature