glyph

[glif]

noun

a pictograph or hieroglyph.
a sculptured figure or relief carving.
Architecture. an ornamental channel or groove.

Origin of glyph

1720–30; < Greek glyph(ḗ) carving, derivative of glýphein to hollow out

Related formsglyph·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for glyph

Historical Examples of glyph

In Maya means "ladder," but the glyph is supposed to represent "an old man."
The American Egypt
Channing Arnold
Glyph is a fellow stem-word to glykys, smooth, soft, or sweet.
An Outline of English Speech-craft
William Barnes
Compare the ending prefix in this glyph with figure 37, a-h.
An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs
Sylvanus Griswold Morley
The position of the month glyph in this text is most unusual.
An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs
Sylvanus Griswold Morley
The month glyph, therefore, should follow in the upper half of 13.
An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs
Sylvanus Griswold Morley

British Dictionary definitions for glyph

glyph

noun

a carved channel or groove, esp a vertical one as used on a Doric frieze
rare another word for hieroglyphic
any computer-generated character regarded in terms of its shape and bit pattern

Derived Formsglyphic, adjective

Word Origin for glyph

C18: from French glyphe, from Greek gluphē carving, from gluphein to carve

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for glyph

1727, "ornamental groove in architecture," from French glyphe (1701), from Greek glyphe "a carving," from glyphein "to hollow out, cut out with a knife, engrave, carve," from PIE root *gleubh- "to cut, slice" (cf. Latin glubere "to peel, shell, strip," Old English cleofan "to cleave"). Meaning "sculpted mark or symbol" (as in hieroglyph) is from 1825.