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Webster 1913 Edition


Hieroglyphic

{

Hi′er-o-glyph

,

Hiˊer-o-glyph′ic

, }
Noun.
[Cf. F.
hiéroglyphe
. See
Hieroglyphic
,
Adj.
]
1.
A sacred character; a character used in picture writing, as of the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Specifically, in the plural, the picture writing of the ancient Egyptian priests. It is made up of three, or, as some say, four classes of characters: first, the hieroglyphic proper, or figurative, in which the representation of the object conveys the idea of the object itself; second, the ideographic, consisting of symbols representing ideas, not sounds, as an ostrich feather is a symbol of truth; third, the phonetic, consisting of symbols employed as syllables of a word, or as letters of the alphabet, having a certain sound, as a hawk represented the vowel a.

Definition 2024


hieroglyphic

hieroglyphic

English

Hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period.

Alternative forms

Noun

hieroglyphic (plural hieroglyphics)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) a writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds as a rebus
  2. any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph
  3. (by extension) undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol

Translations

Adjective

hieroglyphic (comparative more hieroglyphic, superlative most hieroglyphic)

  1. of, relating to, or written with this system of symbols
    hieroglyphic writing
    hieroglyphic obelisk
  2. difficult to decipher

Translations