The total number of distinct

Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

increased over time from several hundred in the Middle Kingdom to several thousand during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. In 1928/1929

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

published an overview of hieroglyphs,

Gardiner's sign list Gardiner's Sign List is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. It is considered a standard reference in the study of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Gardiner lists only the common forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but h ...

, the basic modern standard. It describes 763 signs in 26 categories (A–Z, roughly). Georg Möller compiled more extensive lists, organized by historical epoch (published posthumously in 1927 and 1936). In

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

, the block ''Egyptian Hieroglyphs'' (2009) includes 1071 signs, organization based on Gardiner's list. As of 2016, there is a proposal by

Michael Everson Michael Everson (born January 9, 1963) is an American and Irish linguist, script encoder, typesetter, type designer and publisher. He runs a publishing company called Evertype, through which he has published over a hundred books since 2006. His ...

to extend the Unicode standard to comprise Möller's list.

Subsets

Notable subsets of hieroglyphs: * Determinatives * Uniliteral signs * Biliteral signs * Triliteral signs *

Egyptian numerals The system of ancient Egyptian numerals was used in Ancient Egypt from around 3000 BCE until the early first millennium CE. It was a system of numeration based on multiples of ten, often rounded off to the higher power, written in hieroglyphs. Th ...

Letter classification by Gardiner

List of hieroglyphs

In Unicode

Unicode character names follow

(padded with zeroes to three digits, i.e. Gardiner "A1" is "EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH A001"), with the addition of glyph names in NL001–NL020 and NU001–NU022, representing the 20

Nomes of Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...

and the 22

Nomes of Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

, respectively.

Articles on individual hieroglyphs

Arm, cubit symbol (hieroglyph) The Arm, palm down or cubit hieroglyph ( Gardiner D42) has the phonetic value ''mḥ''. A variant with the upper arm "slanted" is D41. It represents the Egyptian cubit (about 20 inches). See also * Gardiner's Sign List#D. Parts of the Human Bod ...

Bee (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph representing a honey bee (𓆤 Gardiner L2). It is used as an ideogram for "bee" (''bjt''),Betrò, 1995. '' Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt,'' p. 117. but most frequently as part of the title of the King o ...

Bone-with-meat (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Bone-with-meat hieroglyph ( Gardiner F44) represented: "ancestry, inherit", and phonetic ''isw, iw' '' (inherit, etc.); a determinative for the femur, (iw'); and ''swt'', for the tibia.Kamrin, 2004. F44, p. 238. The Old ...

* Bowstring (hieroglyph) * Brazier (hieroglyph) *

Bull (ka hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Bull (hieroglyph), Gardiner sign listed no. E1, is the representation of the common bull. The bull motif is dominant in protodynastic times (see Bull Palette), and also has prominence in the early dynastic Egypt, famously o ...

Carob (hieroglyph) The vertical carob M29 (Gardiner M29) and the vertical date M30 (Gardiner M30) have identical meanings in the Egyptian hieroglyphic language of "sweet", and related words. The carob (hieroglyph) is a ''ripe carob pod w/seeds'', and its meanin ...

Child (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian child hieroglyph is part of the Egyptian Gardiner's Sign List hieroglyphs for the beginning core subgroup of ''Man and his Occupations''. It relates to the child, and childhood, and has a version for the Pharaoh, as a child. ...

Cross-ndj (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph ''ndj'' (nḏ) ( Gardiner Aa27, U+13429 𓐩) has the shape of a cross. It presumably depicts some type of tool such as a mill. It is often written alongside the ''nu'' "pot" hieroglyph (W24). It is used as an ideogram o ...

Crossroads (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph Townsite-city-region is Gardiner sign listed no. O49 for the intersection of a town's streets. In some Egyptian hieroglyph books it is called a city plan. It is used in Egyptian hieroglyphs as a determinative in the n ...

Djsr (arm with powerstick) The ancient Egyptian ''horizontally-outstretched'' Arm with powerstick is a hieroglyph with the meaning of "force", or "power of action". As a baton, or macehead. Power is obvious, but the origins may have also had references to magic, or the i ...

Egg (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Egg hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. H8, is a portrayal of an ''oval-shaped egg'', tilted at an angle, within the Gardiner signs for ''parts of birds''. It is an Egyptian language hieroglyph determinative used for the ...

Emblem of the East (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph Emblem of the East (𓋁 Gardiner no. R15) is a portrayal of a standard, surmounted by the "Symbol of the East". It represents the Goddess Iabet. Her companion goddess Imentet is represented by the "Emblem of the We ...

Emblem of the West (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph Emblem of the West ( Gardiner no. R13 𓊿 or R14 𓋀) represents the goddess Imentet, personification of the afterlife. It is composed of a hawk or ostrich feather. The alternate version of the symbol contains the compl ...

Face (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Face hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. D2 is a portrayal of the ''human face, frontal view.'' It is an Egyptian language biliteral with the value ''hr'', ḥr. The sign is also an ideogram for 'face', and related wor ...

* Foot (hieroglyph) *

Foreleg of ox The Foreleg of ox (a ''foreleg with the thigh'') hieroglyph of ancient Egypt is an old hieroglyph; it even represented a nighttime constellation (the Big Dipper, Maskheti). It came to have many uses in ancient Egypt over three millennia. I ...

* Game piece (hieroglyph) *

Gold (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph representing gold (𓋞 Gardiner S12), phonetic value ''nb'', is important due to its use in the Horus-of-Gold name, one of the Fivefold Titulary names of the Egyptian pharaoh. In its determinative usage, it identi ...

* Grape arbor (hieroglyph) *

Hand (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Hand hieroglyph is an alphabetic hieroglyph with the meaning of "d"; it is also used in the word for 'hand', and actions that are performed, i.e. by the 'way of one's hands', or actions. (Used as a determinative.) Iconog ...

Hand drill (hieroglyph) The Hand drill is a hieroglyph, (and tool), used in ancient Egypt from the earliest dynasties. As a hieroglyph, it can also be used as a determinative for words related to the profession of vase, bowl, pot-making, etc., typically from fine-gra ...

Hare (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Hare hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. E34 (𓃹) is a portrayal of the desert hare or Cape hare, ''Lepus capensis'' of Egypt, within the Gardiner signs for mammals. The ancients used the name of ''sekhat'' for the hare ...

Harpoon (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Harpoon, (archaeological, single-barbed type), is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from ancient Egypt. It is used on the famous Narmer Palette of Pharaoh Narmer from the 31st century BC, in an ''archaic'' hieroglyphic ...

Hill-country (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Hill-country or "Foreign land" hieroglyph (𓈉) is a member of the sky, earth, and water hieroglyphs. A form of the hieroglyph in color, has a ''green line''-(banding) at the base of the hieroglyph. The hieroglyph refers ...

* House (hieroglyph) * Incense burner: arm (hieroglyph) * Incense burner: pot (hieroglyph) *

Jubilee Pavilion (hieroglyph) The ''Jubilee Festival'' for the Pharaoh, the Heb Sed is represented in hieroglyphs by a Jubilee Pavilion Hieroglyph. It is Gardiner Sign Listed as no. O23. However it often appears with other pavilion, or festival hieroglyphs: the ''Hall'', no. ...

Km (hieroglyph) The Egyptian hieroglyph for "black" ( 𓆎) in Gardiner's sign list is numbered I6. Its phonetic value is '. The '' Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache'' ('Dictionary of the Egyptian Language') lists no less than 24 different terms of km in ...

Land, irrigated (hieroglyph) The Land, irrigated hieroglyph ("sectioned land", Gardiner N24) represents "district, nome" (phonetic value ''sp3t''). It is a determinative in the name of provinces and regions in the noun ''ḥsp'', for "garden", "vegetable garden", and " ...

* Leopard head (hieroglyph) * Man-prisoner (hieroglyph) * Man-seated: arms in adoration (hieroglyph) *

Mast (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Mast hieroglyph is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous label of Pharaoh Den of the First dynasty, but forms part of the location hieroglyph: Emblem of the East. Nectanebo II's ...

Night (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Night hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed nos. N3 is a portrayal of the ''sky with the 'was' scepter hanging from it''; it is in the Gardiner subset for "sky, earth, and water". In the Egyptian language, the ''night hierog ...

Naos (hieroglyph) Naos (Greek ναός "temple, shrine") the descriptive name given to an Egyptian hieroglyph ( Gardiner O18). The Jubilee pavilion hieroglyph is a side view of the pharaoh seated, in opposing views, wearing the two separate crowns, the crown of ...

Papyrus stem (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Papyrus stem hieroglyph is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. The papyrus stalk, (or stem) was incorporated into designs of columns on buildings, also facades, and is also in the iconographic art port ...

Pick (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Pick hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed nos. U17, U18 is a portrayal of a 'pick upon the side view of a block'; it is in the Gardiner subset for ''agriculture, crafts, and professions''. In the Egyptian language, the ''pic ...

Pr (hieroglyph) Pr (𓉐 Gardiner sign listed no. O1) is the hieroglyph for 'house', the floor-plan of a walled building with an open doorway. While its original pronunciation is not known with certainty, modern Egyptology assigns it the value of ''per'', bu ...

* Road (hieroglyph) * Sail (hieroglyph) * Shuti hieroglyph (two-feather adornment) *

Sky (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Sky hieroglyph, (also translated as ''heaven'' in some texts, or iconography), is Gardiner sign listed no. N1, within the Gardiner signs for ''sky, earth, and water.'' The ''Sky'' hieroglyph is used like an Egyptian langu ...

Spine with fluid (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian hieroglyph of a Spine issuing fluid is Gardiner sign listed no. F40 for the ''animal spine, fluid falling from each end''. Another hieroglyph, Gardiner F39 shows only half of the spine, F39-(referring to 'dignity', or ' ...

Stair-single (hieroglyph) The ancient Egyptian Single-Stair hieroglyph, Gardiner sign listed no. O40 is a single staircase in the Gardiner subset for "buildings, parts of buildings, etc." A second full double-staircase is no. O41,Betrò, 1995. ''Hieroglyphics: The ...

* Sun (hieroglyph) * Sun-rising (hieroglyph) * Swallow (hieroglyph) *

Three fox skins (hieroglyph) The Three-Fox-Skins (hieroglyph) is Gardiner's sign listed no. F31, in the series of ''parts of animals''. It consists of 3-fox skins tied at one end, and hanging, creating flowing skins. In Egyptian hieroglyphs it has the value ''ms''.Betrò, ...

Throw stick (hieroglyph) The Throw stick hieroglyph of ancient Egypt is an old hieroglyph that dates from the Predynastic Period; it is from the assemblage of hieroglyphs used on the ''ornamental'', or ''ceremonial'' cosmetic palettes. It is used on the palettes both ...

* Two whips with shen ring (hieroglyph) *

Union symbol (hieroglyph) The Union symbol (hieroglyph) is Gardiner sign listed no. F36, part of the series for ''parts of mammals''. As a "union symbol", (a right and left half), it contains a vertical invisible 'centerline'. It allows for the positioning of two impor ...

;Hieroglyph is part of article: *

Ankh Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene. This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphate ...

Bennu Bennu is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the Sun, creation, and rebirth. He may have been the original inspiration for the phoenix legends that developed in Greek mythology. Roles According to Egyptian mythology, Bennu was a self-create ...

Cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

Deshret Deshret ( egy, dšrt "Red One") was the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet (Black Land), the fertile Nile river basin. When combined with the Hedjet (White Crown) of Upper Egypt, it fo ...

Djed The ''djed,'' also ''djt'' ( egy, ḏd 𓊽, Coptic ''jōt'' "pillar", anglicized /dʒɛd/) is one of the more ancient and commonly found symbols in ancient Egyptian religion. It is a pillar-like symbol in Egyptian hieroglyphs representing sta ...

Eye of Horus The Eye of Horus, ''wedjat'' eye or ''udjat'' eye is a concept and symbol in ancient Egyptian religion that represents well-being, healing, and protection. It derives from the mythical conflict between the god Horus with his rival Set, in wh ...

Hedjet Hedjet ( egy, wikt:ḥḏt#Etymology 2, ḥḏt "White One") is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaoh, pharaonic Upper Egypt. After the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, t ...

Khepresh The khepresh (''ḫprš'') was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. It is also known as the blue crown or war crown. New Kingdom pharaohs are often depicted wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies. While it was once c ...

Renpet Renpet was, in the Egyptian language, the word for "year". Its hieroglyph was figuratively depicted in art as a woman wearing a palm shoot (symbolizing time) over her head. She was often referred to as the ''Mistress of Eternity'' and also pers ...

Sekhem scepter The sekhem scepter is a type of ritual scepter in ancient Egypt. As a symbol of authority, it is often incorporated in names and words associated with power and control. The sekhem scepter (symbolizing "the powerful") is related to the ('')'' s ...

Serekh In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...

* Seshat's emblem *

Set animal In ancient Egyptian art, the Set animal, or ''sha'', is the totemic animal of the god Set. Because Set was identified with the Greek monster Typhon, the animal is also commonly known as the Typhonian animal or Typhonic beast. Unlike other totemi ...

Shen ring __NOTOC__ Shen may refer to: * Shen (Chinese religion) (神), a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, and traditional Chinese medicine; term for god or spirit * Shen (clam-monster) (蜃), a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mi ...

Tyet The tyet ( egy, tjt), sometimes called the knot of Isis or girdle of Isis, is an ancient Egyptian symbol that came to be connected with the goddess Isis. Its hieroglyphic depiction is catalogued as V39 in Gardiner's sign list. In many respect ...

Uraeus The Uraeus (), or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra"), ''(plural: Uraei)'' is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. Sym ...

Wadjet Wadjet (; egy, wꜢḏyt "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto (; grc-koi, Οὐτώ) or Buto (; ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. It became part ...

Was (sceptre) The ''was'' (Egyptian ''wikt:wꜣs, wꜣs'' "power, dominion") sceptre is a symbol that appeared often in relics, art, and hieroglyphs associated with the ancient Egyptian religion. It appears as a stylized animal head at the top of a long, stra ...

References

* Budge, Sir E.A.Wallis, ''An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, in Two Volumes,'' Sir E.A.Wallis Budge, (Dover Publications, Inc. New York), c 1920, Dover Edition, c 1978. (Large categorized listings of Hieroglyphs, Vol 1, pp. xcvii–cxlvii (97–147) (25 categories, 1000+ hieroglyphs), 50 pgs.) *Faulkner, William (1991). Middle Egyptian. Griffith. .: * A.H. Gardiner, ''Catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, from matrices owned and controlled by Dr. Alan'' (1928). * A.H. Gardiner, "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1928)", ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 15 (1929), p. 95. * A.H. Gardiner, "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1931)", ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 17 (1931), pp. 245–247. * A.H. Gardiner, ''Supplement to the catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, showing acquisitions to December 1953'' (1953). * A.H. Gardiner, '' Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs''. 3rd Ed., pub.

Griffith Institute The Griffith Institute is an Egyptological institution based in the Griffith Wing of the Sackler Library and is part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, England. It was founded for the advancement of Egyptology and Ancient Nea ...

, Oxford, 1957 (1st edition 1927), pp. 438–548
pdf
. * Möller, Georg. 1909. ''Hieratische Paläographie: die aegyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung von der Fünften Dynastie bis zur römischen Kaiserzeit. Erster Band: Bis zum Beginn der achtzehnten Dynastie'' * Möller, Georg. 1927. ''Hieratische Paläographie: die aegyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung von der Fünften Dynastie bis zur römischen Kaiserzeit. Zweiter Band: Von der Zeit Thutmosis' III bis zum Ende der einundzwanzigsten Dynastie,'' * Möller, Georg. 1936. ''Hieratische Paläographie: die aegyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung von der Fünften Dynastie bis zur römischen Kaiserzeit. Dritter Band: Von der zweiundzwanzigsten Dynastie bis zum dritten Jahrhundert nach Chr.'' * Möller, Georg. 1936. ''Hieratische Paläographie: die aegyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung von der Fünften Dynastie bis zur römischen Kaiserzeit. Vierter *Band: Ergänzungsheft zu Band I und II'' * Wilkinson, Richard, ''Reading Egyptian Art, A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture,'' Richard H. Wilkinson, with 450 Illustrations, (Thames & Hudson Ltd, London), c 1992. * Rainer Hannig: ''Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch. (2800 – 950 v. Chr.)'' Marburger Edition. 4th rev. ed. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, , (= Hannig-Lexica. vol. 1); (= Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt. vol. 64, ISSN 0937-9746),contains the Gardiner list plus an extended sign list. * Rainer Hannig, Petra Vomberg: ''Wortschatz der Pharaonen in Sachgruppen''. Hannig Lexica vol. 2, 2nd ed, von Zabern, Mainz 2012, . * Friedrich Junge: ''Einführung in die Grammatik des Neuägyptischen'' 3rd rev. ed. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, , information on transcription and transliteration and peculiarities of New Kingdom orthographies. * Christian Leitz: ''Die Tempelinschriften der griechisch-römischen Zeit.'' 3rd rev ed. Münster 2009, , (= ''Quellentexte zur ägyptischen Religion'' 1), (= ''Einführungen und Quellentexte zur Ägyptologie'' 2), references older inventories of Ptolemaic era hieroglyphics. * Michael Everson and Bob Richmond,
Towards a Proposal to encode Egyptian Hieroglyphs in Unicode
' (2006)

External links

* WikiHiero syntax (

MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...

) * :wiktionary:Appendix:Unicode/Egyptian Hieroglyphs * :wiktionary:Egyptian hieroglyphic script characters
Gardiner Sign List

Alphabet
at ancient-egypt.co.uk

finding hieroglyphs
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Egyptian Hieroglyphs By Alphabetization * +