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.
      • 1915, Sylvanus Griswold Morley, An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, Chapter 2:

        human figures carved on the obverse and the reverse, and glyphs on the other faces. Slab-stelæ, on the other hand, are shorter and most of them bear inscriptions only on the reverse. Frequently associated with these stelæ are smaller monoliths known as "altars," which vary greatly in size, shape, and decoration, some bearing glyphs and others being without them.

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.

   The grid column header displays a sort glyph indicating an ascending or descending ordering.

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

• adermatoglyphia
• aglyph
• agriglyph
• anaglyph
• bioglyph
• dendroglyph
• dermatoglyph
• diglyph
• geoglyph
• glyphlike
• glyphography
• glyphomancy
• hemiglyph
• hieroglyph
• hoboglyph
• homoglyph
• interglyph
• lithoglyph
• opisthoglyph
• petroglyph
• petrosomatoglyph
• phytoglyphic
• phytoglyphy
• proteroglyph
• solenoglyph
• 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) (xat̤upāro)
• Spanish: glifo (es) m

non-verbal symbol imparting information

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

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) (xat̤upāro)
• 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