hieroglyph

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.
  2. In particular, an Egyptian hieroglyph.
  3. Any obscure or baffling symbol.
verb
  1. To represent by hieroglyphs.

Pronunciation

/ˈhaɪ.ɹəˌɡlɪf/ /ˈhaɪ.ɹəʊˌɡlɪf/ /ˈhaɪɚ.əˌɡlɪf/ /ˈhaɪɚ.oʊˌɡlɪf/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hieroglyph.wav

Word forms

hieroglyph hieroglyphs hieroglyphing hieroglyphed

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

Translations

Afrikaans: hiëroglief Albanian: hieroglif Arabic: هِيرُوغْلِيفِيَّة Armenian: հիերոգլիֆ Asturian: xeroglíficu Azerbaijani: heroqlif Belarusian: іеро́гліф Belarusian: геро́гліф Bengali: হায়ারোগ্লিফ Bulgarian: йерогли́ф Burmese: အရုပ်စာ Catalan: jeroglífic Chinese Mandarin: 象形文字 Chinese Mandarin: 圖畫文字 /图画文字 Chinese Mandarin: 聖書體 /圣书体 Czech: hieroglyf Danish: hieroglyf Dutch: hiëroglief Esperanto: hieroglifo Estonian: hieroglüüf Finnish: hieroglyfi French: hiéroglyphe West-Frisian: hiëroglyf Galician: xeróglifo Galician: xeroglífico Georgian: იეროგლიფი German: Hieroglyphe Greek: ιερογλυφικός Hawaiian: lalinoka Hebrew: הִירוֹגְלִיף Hindi: हीयेरोग्लिफ़ Hungarian: hieroglifa Indonesian: hieroglif Irish: iairiglif Italian: geroglifico Japanese: 象形文字 Japanese: ヒエログリフ Japanese: 聖刻 Kazakh: иероглиф Khmer: វត្ថុលេខនា Korean: 상형문자 Korean: 히에로글리프 Kyrgyz: иероглиф Latvian: hieroglifs Lithuanian: hieroglifas Macedonian: хиероглиф Malay: hieroglif
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