The Egyptian hieroglyphic script contained 24 uniliterals (symbols that stood for single consonants, much like English letters) which today we associate with the 26 glyphs listed below. (Note that the glyph associated with w/u also has a hieratic abbreviation.)
The traditional transliteration system shown on the left of the chart below is over a century old and is the one most commonly seen in texts. It includes several symbols such as 3 for sounds that were of unknown value at the time. Much progress has been made since, though there is still debate as to the details. For instance, it is now thought the 3 may have been an alveolar lateral approximant ("l") in Old Egyptian that was lost by Late Egyptian. Some scholars believe that consonants transcribed as voiced (d, g, dj) may actually have been ejective or, less likely, pharyngealized like the Arabic emphatic consonants. A good description can be found in Allen. For other systems of transliteration, see transliteration of ancient Egyptian.
Uniliteral signsSignTraditional transliterationPhonetic values per Allen (2000) Say NotesOld EgyptianMiddle EgyptianAan Egyptian vulture3a called aleph,a glottal stop or silent, , and ia reedỉi/a called yodhan initial or final vowel; sometimes i-ia pair of reeds y y double yodh no record ypair of strokesor river (?)aan armʿa called ayin,a voiced pharyngeal fricativeperhaps ; perhaps retained in some words and dialectsw or Wa quail chick or itshieratic abbreviationww/u called waw ~ ba lower legbb ~ pa reed mat or stoolpp aspirated fa horned viperff man owlmm na ripple of waternn , sometimes ra mouthrr see image, sometimes (always in some dialects)ha reed shelterhh Ha twisted wickḥh an emphatic h,a voiceless pharyngeal fricativexa placentaḫkh a voiceless velar fricativeXan animal belly with tailẖkh a softer sound,a voiceless palatal fricatives a folded cloth s s Old Egyptian sound for"door bolt" is unknown,but perhaps was z or thza door boltS orN38 orN39a garden poolšsh qslope of a hillḳ or qk an emphatic k,a voiceless uvular plosiveejective ka basket with a handlekk aspirated in some words, palatalized ga jar standgg ejective ta buntt aspirated Ta tethering ropeṯ or tjch as in English churchpalatalized or da handdd ejective Da cobraḏ or djj as in English judgeejective or
Gardiner lists several variations: Uniliteral signs Sign Traditional transliteration NotesV33bag of lineng Appears in a few older wordsAa15unknown (Possibly: Finger)m Originally biliteral imS3crown of Lower Egyptn Originally ideogram nt for 'crown of Lower Egypt'U33pestlet Originally biliteral ti
References
See also Transliteration of ancient Egyptian Egyptian biliteral signs Egyptian triliteral signs List of hieroglyphs
fi:Unilitteraalihieroglyfit