Hieroglyphic
noun
A picture symbol used in ancient Egyptian writing system.
The Rosetta Stone helped scholars understand Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Often appears as...
- egyptian hieroglyphic
- hieroglyphic writing
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Written in, using, or resembling hieroglyphs.
A hieroglyphic inscription was found on the ancient artifact.
Often appears as...
- hieroglyphic writing
- hieroglyphic script
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Something difficult to decipher or understand.
Her handwriting was practically hieroglyphic, no one could understand what she had written.
Often appears as...
- hieroglyphic script
- hieroglyphic puzzles
Usage tips
Colloquial
noun
A picture symbol used in ancient Egyptian writing system.
The Rosetta Stone helped scholars understand Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Often appears as...
- egyptian hieroglyphic
- hieroglyphic writing
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Written in, using, or resembling hieroglyphs.
A hieroglyphic inscription was found on the ancient artifact.
Often appears as...
- hieroglyphic writing
- hieroglyphic script
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Something difficult to decipher or understand.
Her handwriting was practically hieroglyphic, no one could understand what she had written.
Often appears as...
- hieroglyphic script
- hieroglyphic puzzles
Usage tips
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Ancient Origin
Understand that hieroglyphic refers specifically to ancient Egyptian symbols, not all ancient scripts.
Mayan glyphs are not called hieroglyphics because the term is Egyptian-specific.
Pro Tip 2/3Image-Based
Hieroglyphics often represent objects and ideas, similar to an elaborate picture code.
Hieroglyphics include images of animals, which could represent sounds or concepts.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Alphabetic
Remember that hieroglyphics are not a simple alphabet; each symbol can have multiple meanings.
A single hieroglyphic may represent a sound, word, or even a sentence.
Compare with
characteristicdescriptiveemblematicfigurativeiconrepresentativesymbology
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Video examples
The fascinating physics...
we need to understand the framework on which everything else must be based. Playing with toys is great. Understanding how to keep our life-support systems going is great. But fundamentally, the thing that we need to change in the way that we talk about physics, is we need to understand that physics isn't out there with weird people and strange hieroglyphics
Video examples
Egypt Wants its...
were able to crack the hieroglyphic code and for the first time understand the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language it's an object that's important to all of humanity it's important for all of us to have access to to seeing an object that's that's as significant as the Rosetta Stone and I think that's why we
Video examples
How Tutankhamun Got His...
They carry some hieroglyphic inscription very faintly visible here, which would indicate that they were carved and set up in some sort of building which dates to the reign of Tutankhamun. It's exciting, because that gives us a sort of a ballpark for the time when this site was busy and active and important
Video examples
A Rosetta Stone for the...
of validating these particular readings but if more and more of these readings start making sense and if more if longer and longer sequences are appeared to be correct then we know that we're on the right track so today we can write a word such as Ted in Egyptian hieroglyphics
Video examples
Three ideas. Three...
I don't have a photographic memory, and nor is my head a static gallery of sensibly collected think pieces. It's more that I've got this ever-evolving language of hieroglyphics that I've developed and can understand fluently and think deeply with. but I struggle to translate.
Video examples
Egypt Wants Treasures...
hieroglyphs scholars were able to crack the hieroglyphic code and for the first time understand the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language it's an object that's important to all of humanity it's important for all of us to have access to to seeing an object that's that's as
Video examples
Smash fear, learn...
I walked in to school. And a teacher came up to me and handed me a piece of paper. I couldn't read any of it -- hieroglyphics, it could have been -- because it was Kanji, Chinese characters adapted into the Japanese language. Asked him what this said.
Video examples
Stop being a bystander...
This day, for me, was the day that my whole life started. I learned to navigate in two days -- and this is someone who hates numbers and sees them as hieroglyphics. It opened up avenues and opportunities to me that I could never have imagined.
Video examples
Ancient Egypt 101 PIPE...
in addition to mathematical concepts the ancient egyptians also created written languages to describe the world around them the oldest and probably most well-known of these is hieroglyphic writing
Video examples
Ancient Maya 101 PIPE...
writing in Mesoamerica hieroglyphs in fact much of what we know about ancient Maya civilization comes from deciphering hieroglyphic characters inscribed in pottery stone slabs and other ruins
Video examples
The fascinating physics...
we need to understand the framework on which everything else must be based. Playing with toys is great. Understanding how to keep our life-support systems going is great. But fundamentally, the thing that we need to change in the way that we talk about physics, is we need to understand that physics isn't out there with weird people and strange hieroglyphics
Video examples
Egypt Wants its...
were able to crack the hieroglyphic code and for the first time understand the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language it's an object that's important to all of humanity it's important for all of us to have access to to seeing an object that's that's as significant as the Rosetta Stone and I think that's why we
Video examples
How Tutankhamun Got His...
They carry some hieroglyphic inscription very faintly visible here, which would indicate that they were carved and set up in some sort of building which dates to the reign of Tutankhamun. It's exciting, because that gives us a sort of a ballpark for the time when this site was busy and active and important
Video examples
A Rosetta Stone for the...
of validating these particular readings but if more and more of these readings start making sense and if more if longer and longer sequences are appeared to be correct then we know that we're on the right track so today we can write a word such as Ted in Egyptian hieroglyphics
Video examples
Three ideas. Three...
I don't have a photographic memory, and nor is my head a static gallery of sensibly collected think pieces. It's more that I've got this ever-evolving language of hieroglyphics that I've developed and can understand fluently and think deeply with. but I struggle to translate.
Video examples
Egypt Wants Treasures...
hieroglyphs scholars were able to crack the hieroglyphic code and for the first time understand the meaning of the ancient Egyptian language it's an object that's important to all of humanity it's important for all of us to have access to to seeing an object that's that's as
Video examples
Smash fear, learn...
I walked in to school. And a teacher came up to me and handed me a piece of paper. I couldn't read any of it -- hieroglyphics, it could have been -- because it was Kanji, Chinese characters adapted into the Japanese language. Asked him what this said.
Video examples
Stop being a bystander...
This day, for me, was the day that my whole life started. I learned to navigate in two days -- and this is someone who hates numbers and sees them as hieroglyphics. It opened up avenues and opportunities to me that I could never have imagined.
Video examples
Ancient Egypt 101 PIPE...
in addition to mathematical concepts the ancient egyptians also created written languages to describe the world around them the oldest and probably most well-known of these is hieroglyphic writing
Video examples
Ancient Maya 101 PIPE...
writing in Mesoamerica hieroglyphs in fact much of what we know about ancient Maya civilization comes from deciphering hieroglyphic characters inscribed in pottery stone slabs and other ruins
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Meghan O'Rourke
American Poet
To mourn is to wonder at the strangeness that grief is not written all over your face in bruised hieroglyphics. And it's also to feel, quite powerfully, that you're not allowed to descend into the deepest fathom of your grief - that to do so would be taboo somehow.
Quote examples
Riz Ahmed
British Musician
I grew up listening to a lot of early '90s hip-hop. I had the debut Wu-Tang album, Biggie, Snoop, that kind of stuff. Hieroglyphics, the Gravediggaz. I remember D.O.C.'s 'The Portrait of a Masterpiece' was something that had a big influence on me.
Quote examples
CeeLo Green
American Musician
Ultimately, I'm a fan of music. I describe writing music sometimes as hieroglyphics, like, you know, excavating, gently brushing off these artifacts and discovering the song underneath it all. It seems as if it is already written in it.
Quote examples
Graham Swift
British Author
The pen is very quick for getting stuff from your brain to the page. I can do hieroglyphics in the margin. There are days when I really enjoy the flow of ink. I mean, nice pen, ink straight on to the page.
Quote examples
Neil Peart
Canadian Musician
For me, drum elements are like hieroglyphics - I think of a certain physical figure, and a little three-dimensional glyph will appear in my mind as I'm playing.
Quote examples
Jane Birkin
English Actress
I think it's always good to read local authors or relevant books. In Egypt, I studied hieroglyphics and read everything about the mummies.
Quote examples
Scarlett Moffatt
English Entertainer
Everyone thinks that hieroglyphics are really old but if you think about how the world's going now, I think they are just emojis.
Quote examples
Cecil B. DeMille
American Producer
As a boy, I used to look upon the hieroglyphics as so many wonderful pictures.
Quote examples
David Hare
English Playwright
Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.
Quote examples
Meghan O'Rourke
American Poet
To mourn is to wonder at the strangeness that grief is not written all over your face in bruised hieroglyphics. And it's also to feel, quite powerfully, that you're not allowed to descend into the deepest fathom of your grief - that to do so would be taboo somehow.
Quote examples
Riz Ahmed
British Musician
I grew up listening to a lot of early '90s hip-hop. I had the debut Wu-Tang album, Biggie, Snoop, that kind of stuff. Hieroglyphics, the Gravediggaz. I remember D.O.C.'s 'The Portrait of a Masterpiece' was something that had a big influence on me.
Quote examples
CeeLo Green
American Musician
Ultimately, I'm a fan of music. I describe writing music sometimes as hieroglyphics, like, you know, excavating, gently brushing off these artifacts and discovering the song underneath it all. It seems as if it is already written in it.
Quote examples
Graham Swift
British Author
The pen is very quick for getting stuff from your brain to the page. I can do hieroglyphics in the margin. There are days when I really enjoy the flow of ink. I mean, nice pen, ink straight on to the page.
Quote examples
Neil Peart
Canadian Musician
For me, drum elements are like hieroglyphics - I think of a certain physical figure, and a little three-dimensional glyph will appear in my mind as I'm playing.
Quote examples
Jane Birkin
English Actress
I think it's always good to read local authors or relevant books. In Egypt, I studied hieroglyphics and read everything about the mummies.
Quote examples
Scarlett Moffatt
English Entertainer
Everyone thinks that hieroglyphics are really old but if you think about how the world's going now, I think they are just emojis.
Quote examples
Cecil B. DeMille
American Producer
As a boy, I used to look upon the hieroglyphics as so many wonderful pictures.
Quote examples
David Hare
English Playwright
Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.
Example 1 of 9
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