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hieroglyph

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English

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Egyptian hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period.

Etymology

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First attested around 1598, a back-formation from hieroglyphic (1580s), from Middle French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós) (Plutarch τά ἱερογλυφικά [γράμματα] "hieroglyphic [writing]), ἱερόγλυφος (hierógluphos, “carver of hieroglyphs”) (Ptolemy), a compound of ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) and γλυφή (gluphḗ, “carved work”), a calque of Egyptian mdw-nṯr (“the god’s word”),
nTrmd
.[1] By surface analysis, hiero- +‎ glyph.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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hieroglyph (plural hieroglyphs)

  1. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.
    Hieroglyphs were discovered on the wall inside the temple.
    • 1986, Victoria Reifler Bricker, A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs:
      Mayan Hieroglyphs as Linguistic Evidence. In Third Palenque Round Table, 1978, vol. V, part 2, edited by Merle Greene Robertson, pp. 204-216.
    • 1924, Herbert Joseph Spinden, The Reduction of Mayan Dates, page 15:
      Some idea of the nature of Mayan hieroglyphs has already been gained from the sets of day-signs and month-signs. In the opinion of the writer, Mayan hieroglyphs are among the best examples of calligraphy; each glyph block is a composition exhibiting remarkable qualities of design.
    1. In particular, an Egyptian hieroglyph.
  2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.
    With your handwriting, it's no surprise the Prof can't read your hieroglyphs!
    • 2015 January 30, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 9-10:
      "There are SCPs with antimemetic properties," Marion goes on. "There are ideas which cannot be spread. There are entities and phenomena which harvest and consume information, particularly information about themselves. You take a Polaroid photo of one, it'll never develop. You write a description down with a pen on paper and hand it to someone— but what you've written turns out to be hieroglyphs, and nobody can understand them, not even you. You can look directly at one and it won't even be invisible, but you'll still perceive nothing there."

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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hieroglyph (third-person singular simple present hieroglyphs, present participle hieroglyphing, simple past and past participle hieroglyphed)

  1. (transitive) To represent by hieroglyphs.

References

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  1. ^ James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 2, 177.
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