hieroglyph

English

Egyptian hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period.

Etymology

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”), . By surface analysis, hiero- +‎ glyph.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ.ɹəˌɡlɪf/, /ˈhaɪ.ɹəʊˌɡlɪf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪɚ.əˌɡlɪf/, /ˈhaɪɚ.oʊˌɡlɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hie‧ro‧glyph, hier‧o‧glyph

Noun

hieroglyph (plural hieroglyphs)

1. An element of a hieroglyphic writing system, an individual sign or glyph.
2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.

Derived terms

• hieroglyphic

Translations

element of hieroglyphic writing system

• Afrikaans: hiëroglief
• Albanian: hieroglif (sq) m
• 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: йерогли́ф (bg) m (jeroglíf)
• 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), 聖書體／圣书体 (zh) (shèngshūtǐ) (egpytian)

• Coptic:

  Sahidic: ⲥϩⲁⲓ ⲛ̅ⲥⲁϩ ⲡⲣⲁⲛ̅ϣ̅ m (shai n̅sah pran̅š̅)

• Czech: hieroglyf (cs) m
• Danish: hieroglyf c
• Dutch: hiëroglief (nl) c
• Esperanto: hieroglifo
• Estonian: hieroglüüf
• Finnish: hieroglyfi (fi)
• French: hiéroglyphe (fr) m
• Galician: xeróglifo (gl) m, xeroglífico (gl) 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
• 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), 聖刻 (seikoku)
• Kazakh: иероглиф (ieroglif)
• Khmer: វត្ថុលេខនា (vŏətthoʼ leikhaʼnaa)
• 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)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: hiyeroglif (tr)
• Turkmen: iýeroglif
• Ukrainian: ієро́гліф m (ijeróhlif)
• Uzbek: iyeroglif (uz)
• Vietnamese: chữ tượng hình

Verb

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

1. To represent by hieroglyphs.