Now that you know what scribes did, let's read like one. The first secret of hieroglyphs: many signs are not pictures of the word at all. They stand for sounds, like the letters of our alphabet.
Key idea
Many hieroglyphs are sound signs. The owl 𓅓 is m, the water 𓈖 is n, and the mouth 𓂋 is r.
Why it works
Pictures alone can't write everything. How would you draw "name" or "good"? Egyptians used pictures of things whose names began with a sound, and used them for that sound. So the mouth sign writes r even in words that have nothing to do with mouths. Egyptians wrote only the consonants, not the vowels.
| Sign | Shows | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| 𓅓 | owl | m |
| 𓈖 | water | n |
| 𓂋 | mouth | r |
| 𓏏 | loaf of bread | t |
| 𓃀 | foot | b |
| 𓆑 | horned viper | f |
| 𓊪 | stool | p |
| 𓂧 | hand | d |
| 𓋴 | folded cloth | s |
| 𓎡 | basket | k |
Worked example: Read a word
A word is written with a mouth and then water. What sounds does it spell?
- Mouth = r.
- Water = n.
- Together: r, n. Egyptologists say it "ren."
Answer: rn, "ren," which means "name."
Common mistake
Thinking every hieroglyph is a picture of the word. The owl in a word usually just means the sound m, not an owl! Ask: is this sign standing for a sound?