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 (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.

   Hieroglyphs were discovered on the wall inside the temple.

2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.

   With your handwriting, it's no surprise the Prof can't read your hieroglyphs!

   • 2008–2021, 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

• 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 (ja) (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. (transitive) To represent by hieroglyphs.