hieroglyph

Etymology

First recorded around 1598, as a back-formation from hieroglyphic (1580s). That word came from Middle French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós), used by Plutarch as τά ἱερογλυφικά [γράμματα], "hieroglyphic [writing]", and as ἱερόγλυφος (hierógluphos, "carver of hieroglyphs") by Ptolemy — a compound of ἱερός (hierós, "sacred, holy") and γλυφή (gluphḗ, "carved work"), itself a calque of Egyptian mdw-nṯr ("the god's word"), nTr-md. By surface analysis, it breaks down as hiero- + glyph.