A character of a writing system of ancient Egypt; a figure of some object, as a tree, animal, etc., standing for a word (or, afterwards, in some cases, a syllable or sound), and forming an element of a species of writing: Hieroglyphs have been found on ancient Egyptian monuments and records and since then extended to such figures similarly used in the writing of other races.

A hieroglyph is also a writing consisting of characters of this kind.