Start here

How to read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

Hieroglyphs look like pictures, but they work like a writing system. Every sign is quietly doing one of three jobs, and the text always gives you clues to tell which. Learn those clues and you can begin to read the words of the gods the way trained Egyptologists do.

• IfIt is followed by small matching alphabet signs

  Phonogram

  Those extra uniliterals are phonetic complements that reinforce the big sign’s sound.

• IfIt stands alone, silent, at the very end of a word

  Determinative

  Final, unpronounced, meaning-giving signs classify the word rather than spell it.

• IfIt is followed by a single vertical stroke

  Logogram

  The stroke means “read this sign as the entire word.”

• IfIt sits inside a chain of other consonant signs

  Phonogram

  Signs clustered with other sounds are being read for sound, not meaning.

• IfThe picture clearly matches the word’s meaning

  Logogram or determinative

  Check its position and companions to decide which of the two it is.

• IfThe same sign appears twice — early and at the end

  Phonogram, then determinative

  The first spells sound; the repeat at the end classifies the meaning.

1. 1

   Look at the last sign

   If it is silent and semantic, it is a determinative. If it carries a single stroke, it is a logogram.

2. 2

   Look for phonetic complements

   If small alphabet signs echo a larger sign’s sound, that larger sign is a phonogram.

3. 3

   Compare picture to meaning

   If the drawing matches the meaning, it is a logogram or determinative. If not, it is spelling sound.