hieroglyphic
English
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Alternative forms
[edit]- hieroglyphick (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]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.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
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hieroglyphic (plural hieroglyphics)
- (chiefly in the plural) A writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds as a rebus
- Any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph.
- 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, page 44:
- 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."
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- The hieroglyphics or symbols, however, were reversed, just as though they had been pressed on wax.
- (by extension) Undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol.
- 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:
- 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 also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.
Usage notes
[edit]The use of this word in the plural, as well as its use to mean ‘a hieroglyph’, are commonly proscribed by Egyptologists; for example, James P. Allen writes, ‘Each sign in this system is a hieroglyph, and the system as a whole is called hieroglyphic (not “hieroglyphics”).’ Thus, while the use of ‘hieroglyphics’ is quite common in works written by laymen (and formerly in 19th-century academic works), it is rare in modern academic works written by Egyptologists.
Translations
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Adjective
[edit]hieroglyphic (comparative more hieroglyphic, superlative most hieroglyphic)
- of, relating to, or written with this system of symbols
- hieroglyphic writing
- hieroglyphic obelisk
- difficult to decipher
Translations
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- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with hiero-
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪfɪk
- Rhymes:English/ɪfɪk/4 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English adjectives