hieroglyph

English

Egyptian hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period.

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

First attested around 1598, a back-formation from hieroglyphic (1580s), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French hiéroglyphique, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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”), .

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪɹəˌɡlɪf/

Noun

hieroglyph (plural hieroglyphs)

1. An element of an ideographic (hieroglyphic) writing system.
2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.

Derived terms

• hieroglyphic

Translations

element of ideographic writing system

• Afrikaans: hiëroglief
• Arabic: هِيرُوغْلِيفِيَّة f (hiroḡlifiyya)
• Armenian: հիերոգլիֆ (hy) (hieroglif)
• Asturian: xeroglíficu m
• Azerbaijani: heroqlif (az)
• Belarusian: іеро́гліф m (ijeróhlif), геро́гліф m (hjeróhlif) (taraškievica)
• Bengali: হায়ারোগ্লিফ (haẏarōgliph)
• Bulgarian: йеро́глиф (bg) m (jeróglif)
• Burmese: အရုပ်စာ (my) (a.rupca)
• Catalan: jeroglífic (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 象形文字 (zh) (xiàngxíng wénzì), 圖畫文字／图画文字 (túhuà wénzì), 图画文字 (túhuà wénzì)

• Czech: hieroglyf (cs) m
• Danish: hieroglyf
• Dutch: hiëroglief (nl) c
• Esperanto: hieroglifo
• Estonian: hieroglüüf
• Finnish: hieroglyfi (fi)
• French: hiéroglyphe (fr) m
• Galician: xeróglifo m, xeroglífico m
• Georgian: იეროგლიფი (ieroglipi)
• German: Hieroglyphe (de) f
• Greek: ιερογλυφικός (el) m (ieroglyfikós)

  Ancient Greek: ^{(please verify)} χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)

• Hawaiian: lalinoka
• Hebrew: הִירוֹגְלִיף (he) m
• Hindi: हीयेरोग्लिफ़ (hīyeroglif)
• Hungarian: hieroglifa (hu)
• Indonesian: hieroglif (id)
• Irish: iairiglif f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: geroglifico (it) m
• Japanese: 象形文字 (ja) (しょうけいもじ, shōkei moji), ヒエログリフ (hierogurifu), ハイエログリフ (haierogurifu)
• Kazakh: иероглиф (ieroglif)
• Korean: 상형문자 (ko) (sanghyeongmunja), 히에로글리프 (hierogeullipeu)
• Kyrgyz: иероглиф (iyeroglif)
• Latvian: hieroglifs m
• Lithuanian: hieroglifas m
• Macedonian: хиероглиф m (hieroglif)
• Malay: hieroglif
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hieroglyf (no) m

• Occitan: ieroglif (oc) m
• Persian: هیروگلیف (fa) (hiroglif)
• Polish: hieroglif (pl) m
• Portuguese: hieróglifo (pt)
• Romanian: hieroglifă (ro) f
• Russian: иеро́глиф (ru) m (ijeróglif)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хијероглиф m

  Roman: hijeroglif m

• Slovak: hieroglyf (sk) m
• Slovene: hieroglif (sl) m
• Spanish: jeroglífico m
• Swedish: hieroglyf (sv) c
• Tagalog: heroglipiko
• Tajik: иероглиф (iyeroglif)
• Turkish: hiyeroglif (tr)
• Ukrainian: ієро́гліф m (ijeróhlif)
• Uzbek: iyeroglif (uz)

Verb

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

1. To represent by hieroglyphs.