different between hieroglyph vs demotic

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ha?????l?f/

Noun

hieroglyph (plural hieroglyphs)

1. An element of an ideographic (hieroglyphic) writing system.
2. (informal) Any obscure or baffling symbol.

Derived terms

• hieroglyphic

Translations

Verb

hieroglyph (third-person singular simple present hieroglyphs, present participle hieroglyphing, simple past and past participle hieroglyphed)

1. To represent by hieroglyphs.

References

English

Etymology

First attested in 1822, from Ancient Greek ????????? (d?motikós, “common”), from ??????? (d?mót?s, “commoner”), from ????? (dêmos, “the common people”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?.?m?.t?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d?.m?.t?k/

Adjective

demotic (not comparable)

1. Of or for the common people.

   Synonyms: colloquial, informal, popular, vernacular

   Antonym: formal
2. Of, relating to, or written in the ancient Egyptian script that developed from Lower Egyptian hieratic writing starting from around 650 B.C.E. and was chiefly used to write the Demotic phase of the Egyptian language, with simplified and cursive characters that no longer corresponded directly to their hieroglyphic precursors.

   Synonym: enchorial

   Coordinate term: abnormal hieratic

3. Of, relating to, or written in the form of modern vernacular Greek.

Derived terms

• demoticist

Related terms

• Demotic Greek
• demotist

Translations

Noun

demotic (plural demotics)

1. (linguistics) Language as spoken or written by the common people.
   • 2010, John C. Wells, accents map

     Note the intrusion into British demotic (“me and Cheryl were having”) of the valley-girl quotative be, like.

Translations

Further reading

• demotic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “demotic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.