1. A writing system that uses symbols or pictures to denote objects, concepts, or sounds, originally and especially in the writing system of ancient Egypt: It took the explorers years to "crack the code" of the hieroglyphics of the ancient burial tombs in Egypt.
2. Writing that resembles ancient writing; usually by being illegible: Eve's handwriting has often been described as looking like hieroglyphics.
3. Something written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols: On the cliffs near Peterborough, Canada, are hieroglyphics and pictographs telling the history of the aboriginal people who lived in the area.
4. Etymology: from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hieroglyphikos, from hieros, "sacred, powerful" + glyphe, glyphikos, "carving" from glyphein, "to carve".

The ancient Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs that were not deciphered until after the discovery in 1799 of the Rosetta Stone, which bears the same inscription in three different scripts: hieratic Egyptian (formal), demotic Egyptian (cursive), and ancient Greek.

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1. Pertaining to characters or modes of writing used by the ancient Egyptians (or by transference, other peoples), consisting of figures of objects directly or figuratively representing words (picture-writing), or, in certain circumstances, syllables or letters: A hieroglyphic picture relates to a word or notion, especially one symbolizing something which it does not directly figure (like many of the Egyptian hieroglyphs), hence a figure, device, or sign, having some hidden meaning, a secret or enigmatical symbol, an emblem, or a hieroglyph.
2. Descriptive of something that contains or is inscribed with hieroglyphs: The personalized hieroglyphic writing or symbols on Carol's bracelet was absolutely lovely and could not be mixed up with the bracelets that her sister had.