hieroglyph

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ.ɹəˌɡlɪf/, /ˈhaɪ.ɹəʊˌɡlɪf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪɚ.əˌɡlɪf/, /ˈhaɪɚ.oʊˌɡlɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hie‧ro‧glyph, hier‧o‧glyph

hieroglyph (plural hieroglyphs)

1. An element (individual sign or glyph) of a hieroglyphic writing system.

   Hieroglyphs were discovered on the wall inside the temple.

2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.

   With your handwriting, it's no surprise the Prof can't read your hieroglyphs!

   • 2015 January 30, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 9-10:

     "There are SCPs with antimemetic properties," Marion goes on. "There are ideas which cannot be spread. There are entities and phenomena which harvest and consume information, particularly information about themselves. You take a Polaroid photo of one, it'll never develop. You write a description down with a pen on paper and hand it to someone— but what you've written turns out to be hieroglyphs, and nobody can understand them, not even you. You can look directly at one and it won't even be invisible, but you'll still perceive nothing there."

hieroglyph (third-person singular simple present hieroglyphs, present participle hieroglyphing, simple past and past participle hieroglyphed)

1. (transitive) To represent by hieroglyphs.