FreeScrabbleDictionary

hieroglyph

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
22
Words With Friends
22
Letters
10
Pronunciation
/ˈhaɪ.ɹəˌɡlɪf/
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈhaɪ.ɹəˌɡlɪf/ · /ˈhaɪ.ɹəʊˌɡlɪf/ · /ˈhaɪɚ.əˌɡlɪf/ · /ˈhaɪɚ.oʊˌɡlɪf/

Definition of hieroglyph

4 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.
    “Hieroglyphs were discovered on the wall inside the temple.”
    “Mayan Hieroglyphs as Linguistic Evidence. In Third Palenque Round Table, 1978, vol. V, part 2, edited by Merle Greene Robertson, pp. 204-216.”
    “Some idea of the nature of Mayan hieroglyphs has already been gained from the sets of day-signs and month-signs. In the opinion of the writer, Mayan hieroglyphs are among the best examples of calligraphy; each glyph block is a composition exhibiting remarkable qualities of design.”
See all 4 definitions

noun

  1. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.
    “Hieroglyphs were discovered on the wall inside the temple.”
    “Mayan Hieroglyphs as Linguistic Evidence. In Third Palenque Round Table, 1978, vol. V, part 2, edited by Merle Greene Robertson, pp. 204-216.”
    “Some idea of the nature of Mayan hieroglyphs has already been gained from the sets of day-signs and month-signs. In the opinion of the writer, Mayan hieroglyphs are among the best examples of calligraphy; each glyph block is a composition exhibiting remarkable qualities of design.”
  2. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.
  3. (informal)Any obscure or baffling symbol.
    “With your handwriting, it's no surprise the Prof can't read your hieroglyphs!”

verb

  1. (transitive)To represent by hieroglyphs.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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.

Words you can make from hieroglyph

200+ playable · top: HYPERGOL (17 pts)

Best play hypergol 17 points

8-letter words

1 word

6-letter words

16 words

5-letter words

34 words

4-letter words

78 words

3-letter words

62 words

2-letter words

8 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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