Write Like an Egyptian

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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What Are Hieroglyphics?

The word hieroglyphics comes from Greek. “Hiero” means holy, and “glyphics” means markings or writings—so hieroglyphics are “holy writings.”

The ancient Egyptians believed words had special power, especially names. They believed that writing a person’s name helped them live on in the afterlife!

Hieroglyphics were used to record everything from royal speeches to fun stories to religious prayers. You could find them on walls, tombs, papyrus scrolls, jewelry, and even statues!

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Hieroglyphics may look like tiny drawings, but they were actually a very clever way to show sounds and ideas.

Some symbols stood for entire words or objects (like a lion or a house). Others represented just a single sound, like the letter “m” or “s.”

Here are some examples.

• An owl stood for the sound m.

• A mouth symbol meant the sound r.

• A snake could stand for f or j, depending on its shape!

There were over 700 hieroglyphs used in ancient times, and even more as the language changed over centuries.

Here’s a fun fact: there’s no symbol for the letter C in ancient Egyptian! They used the same symbol as the letter K (a basket with a handle) for that sound instead.

Writing from All Directions

Hieroglyphics weren’t just fancy— they were flexible! Egyptians could write from left to right, right to left, or even top to bottom.

To figure out which way to read, you look at the direction the symbols are facing. If the owls, people, or animals face left, you read from left to right. If they face right, you go the other way!

How Did We Learn to Read Hieroglyphics?

For a long time, no one could read ancient Egyptian writing. It was a mystery… until 1799, when a French soldier discovered something amazing: The Rosetta Stone.

This stone tablet had the same message written in three languages—Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphics. Since scholars already knew how to read Greek, they used it like a decoder ring to unlock the meaning of the hieroglyphs.

Thanks to the Rosetta Stone, we can now read many ancient Egyptian texts—but not all of them. Some symbols are still a mystery!

Spell It Out, Egyptian-Style!

Here’s how some letters in the English alphabet match with Egyptian symbols.

• A = vulture

• B = foot

• L = lion

• O = lasso

• S = folded cloth

• Z = door bolt

• SH = a rectangle (meaning “land”)

• CH = a hobble

• KH = a ball of string

Each symbol was carefully chosen and carved into stone or painted onto walls using special inks. Some were even written on papyrus, one of the world’s first forms of paper!

A Language You Could Touch

Hieroglyphics weren’t just written—they were also carved into stone. That’s why archaeologists today still find these symbols on ancient temples, pyramids, and tombs.

These carvings are like frozen stories waiting to be read.

Even though it may seem tricky to learn, hieroglyphics were incredibly advanced. Ancient Egyptians used them to communicate powerful ideas, honor their gods, and tell stories that have lasted thousands of years.

Time to Try It Out!

Now that you've learned how ancient Egyptians used pictures to write and communicate, it's your turn to give it a try!

Head to the Got It? section to practice reading and writing with real hieroglyphic symbols. Get ready to explore the alphabet of pharaohs and write your own name using this amazing ancient code!