Egyptian hieroglyph

Hieroglyphs are a system of writing used by the Ancient Egyptians, using a combination of logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements.

Uniliteral signs

Uniliteral signs
Sign Traditional transliteration
  Say Notes
A
an Egyptian vulture 3 a called aleph,
a glottal stop
i
a reed ỉ i/a called yodh
i i
a pair of reeds y y double yodh
y
pair of strokes
or river (?)
a
an arm ˁ a called ayin,
a voiced pharyngeal fricative
w
or
W
a quail chick or its
hieratic abbreviation		 w w/u called waw
 
b
a lower leg b b  
p
a reed mat or stool p p  
f
a horned viper f f  
m
an owl m m  
n
a ripple of water n n  
r
a mouth r r  
h
a reed shelter h h  
H
a twisted wick ḥ h an emphatic h,
a voiceless pharyngeal fricative
x
a placenta or
a ball of string (?)		 ḫ kh a gutteral sound,
a voiceless velar fricative
X
an animal belly with tail ẖ kh a softer sound,
a voiceless palatal fricative
s
a folded cloth s s Old Egyptian sound for
"door bolt" is unknown,
but perhaps was z or th
z
a door bolt
S
a garden pool š sh  
q
slope of a hill ḳ or q k an emphatic k,
a voiceless uvular plosive
k
a basket with a handle k k  
g
a jar stand g g  
t
a bun t t  
T
a tethering rope ṯ or tj ch as in English church
d
a hand d d  
D
a cobra ḏ or dj j as in English judge

Examples

The word 'Ptolemy' is written in hieroglyphs thus:

p
t		 wA l
M		 i i s

The letters in the above cartouche are:

P
T		 O L
M		 E E S

though EE is considered a single letter and transliterated I or Y.

Another example of the way in which hieroglyphs work can be seen by looking at the two meanings of the Egyptian word pr (usually vocalised as per). Its first meaning is 'house', and its hieroglyphic representation is straightforward:

pr
Z1

Here the 'house' hieroglyph works as an logogram: it represents the word with a single sign. The vertical stroke below the hieroglyph is a common way of indicating that a sign is working as an ideogram.

The word pr can also mean 'to go out, leave'. When this word is written, the 'house' hieroglyph is used as a phonetic symbol:

pr
r		 D54

            Mohammad                         Hassan                         Adjigol                             Mahsa                            Sanam

  

Write Like an Egyptian