hieroglyphic
/ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/
"hieroglyphic" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hieroglyphic” is uncommon English (frequency #62,968 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,968
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds, often as a rebus.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hieroglyphic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #62,968 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hieroglyphic” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hieroglyphic is uncommon English at frequency #62,968 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for hieroglyphic in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First coined 1726, from French hiéroglyphique, from Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós), from ἱερογλυφέω (hierogluphéō, “to represent hieroglyphically”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) + γλύφω (glúphō, “to carve, to e… The correct English form is hieroglyphic, spelled H-I-E-R-O-G-L-Y-P-H-I-C.
Definition
- 1A writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds, often as a rebus.
- 2Any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph.
- 3Undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol.
Etymology
First coined 1726, from French hiéroglyphique, from Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós), from ἱερογλυφέω (hierogluphéō, “to represent hieroglyphically”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) + γλύφω (glúphō, “to carve, to engrave, to cut out”). By surface analysis, hiero- + glyphic.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “hieroglyphic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-E-R-O-G-L-Y-P-H-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhaɪɹəˈɡlɪfɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.