hieroglyph
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hieroglyph
A character from the ancient Egyptian writing system, often pictorial in form. The term is also used for similar pictorial scripts of other ancient cultures.
Forscher arbeiten seit Jahrzehnten daran, die Hieroglyphen auf dem alten Papyrus zu entziffern.
Researchers have been working for decades to decipher the hieroglyphs on the ancient papyrus.
The meaning of the word becomes clear from context. If people are talking about ancient Egypt, history, or written characters, it refers to pictorial writing. If it is about illegible handwriting, for example on a prescription or note, the colloquial meaning is intended.
Der Ägyptologe erklärte die Bedeutung der einzelnen Hieroglyphen.
The Egyptologist explained the meaning of the individual hieroglyphs.
In connection with ancient Egyptian writing, 'Hieroglyphe' (hieroglyph) is often used with verbs such as 'entziffern' (to decipher), 'lesen' (to read), or 'übersetzen' (to translate).
Es ist sehr schwierig, diese alten Hieroglyphen zu entziffern.
It is very difficult to decipher these ancient hieroglyphs.
Using 'Hieroglyphe' (hieroglyph/scribble) for illegible handwriting is colloquial and slightly ironic or derogatory. People use it to make fun of messy handwriting or to complain about it.
Kannst du deine eigenen Hieroglyphen überhaupt noch entziffern?
Can you even decipher your own scribbles anymore?
character
'das Schriftzeichen' and 'die Hieroglyphe' can both mean a single character in a writing system. 'Schriftzeichen' is the general term for many kinds of characters. 'Hieroglyphe' is more specific and mainly means a character from ancient Egyptian writing or similar ancient pictorial scripts. The words can be confused because a hieroglyph is a character. But not every character is a hieroglyph. In colloquial German, 'Hieroglyphen' is also used negatively when handwriting is very illegible. In that case, it is not a precise technical term.
Im Museum zeichneten die Kinder eine Hieroglyphe aus dem alten Ägypten ab.
At the museum, the children copied a hieroglyph from ancient Egypt.
Frau Hofmann hat ein Schriftzeichen notiert, das im Deutschen nicht vorkommt.
Ms. Hofmann wrote down a character that does not occur in German.