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How Hieroglyphs Work
Hieroglyphs are a writing system, not a picture code. Signs can represent sounds, words and categories of meaning.
Pictures that write language
Hieroglyphic signs often look like people, animals and objects, but the system writes the Egyptian language. Many signs represent one, two or three consonants. Other signs can write a whole word or help clarify the category of meaning.
Determinatives
Because vowels were generally not written and many words could share consonants, scribes often added a non-phonetic sign at the end of a word to indicate its semantic category. Egyptologists call these determinatives. They help distinguish otherwise similar spellings.
Phonetic complements
Single-consonant signs can be added beside multi-consonant signs to reinforce part of their sound value. This may look redundant to a modern learner, but it is a regular feature of the writing system and also helped arrange signs into visually balanced groups.
Hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic
Formal hieroglyphs were especially suited to monumental and religious inscription. Cursive scripts developed for writing with brush and ink. Hieratic was widely used for manuscripts and documents, while demotic became an even more cursive script in later periods. They are related writing traditions, not separate ancient languages by definition.