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As well as the signs which stand for single sounds, Egyptian uses many signs that stand for two or three sounds
Ancient Egyptian also uses meaning-signs, called 'determinatives'. These are written at the end of a word, after the sound-signs, to tell us the correct category of meaning for the word. Without the determinative you can't tell what it means. Here are some examples:
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words to do with movement |
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words associated with man and his activities |
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words associated with woman and her activities |
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words associated with water |
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names of towns or places |
Ancient Egyptian words were usually (but not always) made up of both sound-signs and meaning-signs. Where possible, scribes liked to group signs together to form nice square shapes.
Click here to see some real Ancient Egyptian words.
Next:
Now that you've learned about sound-signs and meaning-signs, we think you're ready to find out if you can read ancient Egyptian!
Next: Egyptian Quiz
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