Hieroglyph | Symbol | Meaning |
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Vulture | Represents the Egyptian Vulture |
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Foot | Human foot and lower leg |
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Hand | Word for hand, actions or actions that are performed
Also used in iconography |
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(Flowering) Reed | Ideogram, alphabetic uniliteral (consisting of one letter only) vowel ‘i’ |
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Viper | Horned viper
(Hieroglyphic) Possessive pronoun – his, hers or its; written after the noun it refers to |
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Jar Stand | Side view of a jar stand and base
Often used in reliefs for Amun (named the Lord of the Thrones of Egypt by using a plural of the jar stand hieroglyph, to reference the religious sites used by ancient Egyptians) |
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Reed Shelter | Plan view of a reed shelter or enclosure
Egyptian uniliteral sign ‘h’ |
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Wick | Wick of a lamp
Second uniliteral ‘h’ |
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Cobra | Cobra at rest
Used in iconography to describe the pharaoh as ‘given life, power, dominion, Ra-like, forever’ |
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(Wicker) Basket with handle | Iconographic portrayals with crossed lines or blocks of various colors |
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Lion reclining | Sphinx, or reclining lion |
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Owl | Owl, uniliteral ‘m’ |
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Ripple of water | One of the oldest ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; one of the earliest findings was on a cartouche of Pharaoh Den of the First Dynasty
Mostly used as a preposition – main forms: ‘in’, ‘to’, or ‘by’ |
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Red Crown | Vertical alternative to the horizontal N
The Deshret Crown, one of the oldest hieroglyphs, used to symbolist the ‘Red Crown of the Delta’ (Lower Egypt) Famously used on the Narmer Palette, of Pharaoh Narmer |
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Mat or stool (later) hieroglyph | Originally the stool’s rectangular mat, later becoming a representation of the stool |
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Hill Slope | |
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Mouth | Implies use for speech
Also used in the representation of unit fractions |
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Door bolt | Horizontal symbol ‘s’
Sliding form of deadbolt |
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Folded Cloth | Vertical alternative to ‘s’ symbol
Type of cushioning, or seat backing |
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Bread Bun | Shaped as a semicircle, used as the alphabetic ‘t’, feminine words or before other determinants or qualifying ideograms |
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Quail chick | Also representing the alphabetic ‘u’.
Used often in its plural form, as determinative or in important sections of phrases |
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Coil | Hieratic equivalent to the quail chick hieroglyph (above) |
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Reeds | |
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Sieve | Shape of a circular sieve
Also representing placenta |
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Pool/Basin | Also seen as the lake hieroglyph |
Hieroglyphic Numbers | ||
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