Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics Alphabet

The hieroglyphic system of writing was complex and very labor intensive. The first hieroglyphics were used on buildings and tombs and it is believed that the Egyptians first began developing this system of writing around 3000 BC. In the following list you'll find some examples of hieroglyphics. These are the basic symbols the ancient Egyptians used in their writing, but there are many more.

Hieroglyph	Symbol	Meaning
	Vulture	Represents the Egyptian Vulture
	Foot	Human foot and lower leg
	Hand	Word for hand, actions or actions that are performed Also used in iconography
	(Flowering) Reed	Ideogram, alphabetic uniliteral (consisting of one letter only) vowel 'i'
	Viper	Horned viper (Hieroglyphic) Possessive pronoun - his, hers or its; written after the noun it refers to
	Jar Stand	Side view of a jar stand and base Often used in reliefs for Amun (named the Lord of the Thrones of Egypt by using a plural of the jar stand hieroglyph, to reference the religious sites used by ancient Egyptians)
	Reed Shelter	Plan view of a reed shelter or enclosure Egyptian uniliteral sign 'h'
	Wick	Wick of a lamp Second uniliteral 'h'
	Cobra	Cobra at rest Used in iconography to describe the pharaoh as 'given life, power, dominion, Ra-like, forever'
	(Wicker) Basket with handle	Iconographic portrayals with crossed lines or blocks of various colors
	Lion reclining	Sphinx, or reclining lion
	Owl	Owl, uniliteral 'm'
	Ripple of water	One of the oldest ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; one of the earliest findings was on a cartouche of Pharaoh Den of the First Dynasty Mostly used as a preposition - main forms: 'in', 'to', or 'by'
	Red Crown	Vertical alternative to the horizontal N The Deshret Crown, one of the oldest hieroglyphs, used to symbolist the 'Red Crown of the Delta' (Lower Egypt) Famously used on the Narmer Palette, of Pharaoh Narmer
	Mat or stool (later) hieroglyph	Originally the stool's rectangular mat, later becoming a representation of the stool
	Hill Slope
	Mouth	Implies use for speech Also used in the representation of unit fractions
	Door bolt	Horizontal symbol 's' Sliding form of deadbolt
	Folded Cloth	Vertical alternative to 's' symbol Type of cushioning, or seat backing
	Bread Bun	Shaped as a semicircle, used as the alphabetic 't', feminine words or before other determinants or qualifying ideograms
	Quail chick	Also representing the alphabetic 'u'. Used often in its plural form, as determinative or in important sections of phrases
	Coil	Hieratic equivalent to the quail chick hieroglyph (above)
	Reeds
	Sieve	Shape of a circular sieve Also representing placenta
	Pool/Basin	Also seen as the lake hieroglyph

Hieroglyphic Numbers