Hieroglyph Symbol Meaning
Vulture Represents the Egyptian Vulture
Foot Human foot and lower leg
Hand Word for hand, actions or actions that are performed

Also used in iconography

(Flowering) Reed Ideogram, alphabetic uniliteral (consisting of one letter only) vowel ‘i’
Viper Horned viper

(Hieroglyphic) Possessive pronoun – hishers or its; written after the noun it refers to

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)

Reed Shelter Plan view of a reed shelter or enclosure

Egyptian uniliteral sign ‘h’

Wick Wick of a lamp

Second uniliteral ‘h’

Cobra Cobra at rest

Used in iconography to describe the pharaoh as ‘given life, power, dominion, Ra-like, forever’

(Wicker) Basket with handle Iconographic portrayals with crossed lines or blocks of various colors
Lion reclining Sphinx, or reclining lion
Owl Owl, uniliteral ‘m’
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’

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

Mat or stool (later) hieroglyph Originally the stool’s rectangular mat, later becoming a representation of the stool
Hill Slope
Mouth Implies use for speech

Also used in the representation of unit fractions

Door bolt Horizontal symbol ‘s’

Sliding form of deadbolt

Folded Cloth Vertical alternative to ‘s’ symbol

Type of cushioning, or seat backing

Bread Bun Shaped as a semicircle, used as the alphabetic ‘t’, feminine words or before other determinants or qualifying ideograms
Quail chick Also representing the alphabetic ‘u’.

Used often in its plural form, as determinative or in important sections of phrases

Coil Hieratic equivalent to the quail chick hieroglyph (above)
Reeds
Sieve Shape of a circular sieve

Also representing placenta

Pool/Basin Also seen as the lake hieroglyph

 

Hieroglyphic Numbers