hieroglyphic


Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

hi·er·o·glyph·ic

 (hī′ər-ə-glĭf′ĭk, hī′rə-) also hi·er·o·glyph·i·cal (-ĭ-kəl)
adj.
1.
a. Of, relating to, or being a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.
b. Written with such symbols.
2. Difficult to read or decipher.
n.
1.
a. A hieroglyph.
b. often hieroglyphics(used with a sing. or pl. verb) Hieroglyphic writing, especially that of the ancient Egyptians.
2. Something, such as illegible or undecipherable writing, that is felt to resemble a hieroglyph.

[French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hierogluphikos : hieros, holy; see eis- in Indo-European roots + gluphē, carving (from gluphein, to carve; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots).]

hi′er·o·glyph′i·cal·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hieroglyphic

(ˌhaɪərəˈɡlɪfɪk)
adj
1. (Letters of the Alphabet (Foreign)) of or relating to a form of writing using picture symbols, esp as used in ancient Egypt
2. (Letters of the Alphabet (Foreign)) written with hieroglyphic symbols
3. difficult to read or decipher
n
4. (Letters of the Alphabet (Foreign)) a picture or symbol representing an object, concept, or sound
5. a symbol or picture that is difficult to read or decipher
[C16: from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hierogluphikos, from hiero- + gluphē carving, from gluphein to carve]
ˌhieroˈglyphically adv
hieroglyphist n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hi•er•o•glyph•ic

(ˌhaɪ ər əˈglɪf ɪk, ˌhaɪ rə-)

adj. Also, hi`er•o•glyph′i•cal.
1. of or designating a pictographic script, as that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized pictures of the things represented.
2. inscribed with hieroglyphic symbols.
3. hard to decipher; hard to read.
n.
4. Also, hi′er•o•glyph`. a hieroglyphic symbol.
5. Usu., hieroglyphics. hieroglyphic writing.
6. a figure or symbol with a hidden meaning.
7. hieroglyphics, characters or symbols that are difficult to decipher.
[1575–85; < Late Latin hieroglyphicus < Greek hieroglyphikós pertaining to sacred writing. See hiero-, glyph, -ic]
hi`er•o•glyph′i•cal•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.hieroglyphic - writing that resembles hieroglyphics (usually by being illegible)hieroglyphic - writing that resembles hieroglyphics (usually by being illegible)
writing - letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language; "he turned the paper over so the writing wouldn't show"; "the doctor's writing was illegible"
2.hieroglyphic - a writing system using picture symbols; used in ancient Egypt
orthography, writing system - a method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols
hieratic, hieratic script - a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics; used especially by the priests
Adj.1.hieroglyphic - resembling hieroglyphic writing
2.hieroglyphic - written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

hieroglyphic

adjective
1. indecipherable, obscure, figurative, runic, symbolical, enigmatical carved funerary vases containing hieroglyphic texts
plural noun
1. hieroglyphs, signs, symbols, code, ciphers, cryptograms, cryptographs He could read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

hieroglyphic

adjective
Of or relating to representation by drawings or pictures:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

hieroglyphic

[ˌhaɪərəˈglɪfɪk]
A. ADJjeroglífico
B. Njeroglífico m hieroglyphicsjeroglíficos mpl (fig) → garabatos mpl
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hieroglyphic

[ˌhaɪərəˈglɪfɪk]
adjhiéroglyphique hieroglyphics
nplhiéroglyphes mpl
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hieroglyphic

n, hieroglyphics
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hieroglyphic

[ˌhaɪərəˈglɪfɪk] adjgeroglifico/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
In the left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching.
She had been offered to the world, these seven past years, as the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide -- all written in this symbol -- all plainly manifest -- had there been a prophet or magician skilled to read the character of flame!
In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs; as when Mrs.
These are hieroglyphical; that is, if you call those mysterious cyphers on the walls of pyramids hieroglyphics, then that is the proper word to use in the present connexion.
Alexey Alexandrovitch ordered tea to be brought to the study, and playing with the massive paper-knife, he moved to his easy chair, near which there had been placed ready for him a lamp and the French work on Egyptian hieroglyphics that he had begun.
Even his cuff-buttons were engraved with hieroglyphics, and he was more inscribed than an Egyptian obelisk.
Impossible to class it in that ancient family of sombre, mysterious churches, low and crushed as it were by the round arch, almost Egyptian, with the exception of the ceiling; all hieroglyphics, all sacerdotal, all symbolical, more loaded in their ornaments, with lozenges and zigzags, than with flowers, with flowers than with animals, with animals than with men; the work of the architect less than of the bishop; first transformation of art, all impressed with theocratic and military discipline, taking root in the Lower Empire, and stopping with the time of William the Conqueror.
And on it, in a fine hand, written compactly, were many strange hieroglyphics! These remarkable creatures, then, had a written as well as a spoken language and besides the art of weaving cloth possessed that of paper-making.
For a time he passed room after room filled with the cunningly preserved dead of Manator, many of which were piled in tiers after the manner that firewood is corded, and as he moved through corridor and chamber he noticed hieroglyphics painted upon the walls above every opening and at each fork or crossing of corridors, until by observation he reached the conclusion that these indicated the designations of passageways, so that one who understood them might travel quickly and surely through the pits; but Turan did not understand them.
Back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness, in the mind, say, of the English-speaking race, was a capacity to thrill to short, Saxon words; back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness of the Chinese mind was a capacity to thrill to its own hieroglyphics; but the Chinese mind could not thrill to short, Saxon words; nor could the English-speaking mind thrill to hieroglyphics.
Here the lecture began, but Jo heard very little of it, for while Professor Sands was prosing away about Belzoni, Cheops, scarabei, and hieroglyphics, she was covertly taking down the address of the paper, and boldly resolving to try for the hundred-dollar prize offered in its columns for a sensational story.
"But these traces, and such hieroglyphics, or, to be more exact pictographs, as I have been able to decipher from the old documents, tell of one country, or perhaps it was only a city, over which this great golden idol of Quitzel presided.