hieroglyphic
/ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/
hieroglyphic noun: a writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds, often as a rebus.
Noun
hieroglyphic (plural hieroglyphics)
- A writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds, often as a rebus.
- Any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph.
- I must say, that, at the coronation, there was little vestige left as possible "of the charms that pleased a king." "She looked," Lady Mary Wortley said, "like an Egyptian mummy, wrought with hieroglyphics of gold."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Gaieties and Absurdities. Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC...
- The hieroglyphics or symbols, however, were reversed, just as though they had been pressed on wax.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- Undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol.
- Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but...1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714
Adjective
hieroglyphic (comparative more hieroglyphic, superlative most hieroglyphic)
- Of, relating to, or written with such a system of symbols.
- the hieroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt
- a hieroglyphic obelisk
- Difficult to decipher.
hieroglyphic meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Tagalog
hieroglyphic in Tamil
- குறிமொழி, உருவரை எழுத்துமுறை
hieroglyphic in Bengali
- চিত্রলিপি, প্রাচীন মিশরীয় লিখন পদ্ধতি
hieroglyphic in Malayalam
- signs, symbols, ciphers
- ചിത്രലിപി, ചിത്രലിപി സമ്പ്രദായം, പ്രതീകങ്ങൾ, സംജ്ഞകൾ, ചിഹ്നങ്ങൾ, ചിഹ്നവ്യവസ്ഥ
- scribble, scrawl, illegible writing
- വായിക്കാൻ പ്രയാസമായ എഴുത്ത്, വായിക്കാന്‍ പ്രയാസമായ ലിഖിതകൃതി, കുരുട്ടെഴുത്ത്, കുത്തിക്കുറിക്കൽ, കുത്തിവരയ്ക്കൽ, വായിക്കാൻ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുള്ള എഴുത്ത്
- symbolic, stylized, emblematic
- ചിത്രലിപിയായ, ചിത്രലിപിരൂപത്തിലുള്ള, സങ്കേതരൂപമായ, പ്രതീകാത്മകമായ, ചിഹ്നരൂപേണ പ്രകാശിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, ലാക്ഷണികമായ
- illegible, indecipherable, unreadable
- വായിക്കാൻ കഴിയാത്ത, അസ്ഫുടമായ, അസ്പഷ്ടക്ഷരമായ, അവ്യക്തമായ, തിരിച്ചറിയാൻവയ്യാത്ത, വായിക്കൻപറ്റാത്ത
hieroglyphic in Tagalog
- a writing system
- heroglipiko
Examples of hieroglyphic in a sentence
- The papyrus was written in hieratic, a cursive form of hieroglyphics.
- His vigorous, chartlike compositions of hieroglyphic signs and word lists are products of a dandyish, semiotic gamesmanship.
- The rebus principle appears in both the Egyptian hieroglyphic and in the Chinese writing systems.
Forms of hieroglyphic
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hieroglyphics |
| alternative form | hieroglyphick |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more hieroglyphic |
| superlative | most hieroglyphic |
Origin of hieroglyphic
First coined 1726, from French hiéroglyphique, from Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós), from ἱερογλυφέω (hierogluphéō, “to represent hieroglyphically”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) + γλύφω (glúphō, “to carve, to engrave, to cut out”). By surface analysis, hiero- + glyphic.
Words formed from hieroglyphic
Phrases with hieroglyphic
Words that rhyme with hieroglyphic
- specific
- prolific
- calorific
- colorific
- honorific
- scientific
- terrific
- -ific
- biospecific
- calcific
- dolorific
- febrific
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- interspecific
- morbific
- organific
- pacific
- signific
- soporific
- sudorific
- triglyphic
- trispecific
- unterrific
- vaporific
- acidific
- algific
- allospecific
- anaglyphic
- anticalcific
- antiprolific
- aspecific
- aurific
- bioscientific
- bispecific
- carbonific
- chylific
- classific
- coelanaglyphic
- conspecific
- cornific
- cospecific
- crapperific
- damnific
- deific
- diaglyphic
- ditriglyphic
- frigorific
- geoglyphic
- grandific
- hipsterific
- horrific
- humilific
- inspecific
- lactific
- lapidific
- lithoglyphic
- lucific
- lucrific
- mirific
- nanospecific
- omnific
Questions about hieroglyphic
- What does hieroglyphic mean?
- Hieroglyphic means a writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds, often as a rebus.
- What is hieroglyphic in Tamil?
- Hieroglyphic in Tamil is குறிமொழி, உருவரை எழுத்துமுறை. See Hieroglyphic meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is hieroglyphic?
- Hieroglyphic can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce hieroglyphic?
- Hieroglyphic is pronounced /ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/.
- What is the plural of hieroglyphic?
- The plural of hieroglyphic is hieroglyphics.
Words near hieroglyphic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hieroglyphic (page history and authors); hieroglyphic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Hieroglyphic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hieroglyphic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-hieroglyphic.wav.
Cite this entry: “hieroglyphic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hieroglyphic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.