Representing a waterfowl of uncertain species, likely the same as that referred to by the word ꜣpd in its stricter sense, or perhaps simply an abstraction intended to represent a prototypical waterfowl (and therefore bird). Gardiner considered it the white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons), but only one existing example of this hieroglyph shows details that certainly establish it to be of this species, so this may be attributable to an idiosyncrasy of a particular scribe. Other authors instead argue that the glyph is a duck on the basis of Faulkner’s arguments regarding the original meaning of ꜣpd.
The phonetic value of gb is derived by the rebus principle from its use as the determinative for a kind of goose, gbb.
This glyph should not be confused with the extremely similar
(𓅭), which serves as a phonogram for zꜣ and depicts a pintail duck. However, in practice, it is sometimes impossible to tell which bird is represented; in such cases, either glyph can be chosen to transcribe the original.
Gardiner, Alan (1957) Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, third edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 471
Yongsheng, Chen (2016) “The Prototypical Determinatives in Egyptian and Chinese Writing” in Scripta: International Journal of Writing Systems, volume 8, page 109
Faulkner, Raymond (1952) “ꜣpd = ‘duck’” in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 38, p. 128
