determinative was not read as a phonetic constituent, but facilitated understanding by differentiating the

word from its homophones.

Phonetic reading

Hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period

Most non-determinative hieroglyphic signs are phonograms, whose meaning is determined by

pronunciation, independent of visual characteristics. This follows the rebus principle where, for example, the
picture of an eye could stand not only for the English word eye, but also for its phonetic equivalent, the first
person pronoun I.

Phonograms formed with one consonant are called uniliteral signs; with two consonants, biliteral signs;
with three, triliteral signs.

Twenty-four uniliteral signs make up the so-called hieroglyphic alphabet. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
does not normally indicate vowels, unlike cuneiform, and for that reason has been labelled by some an abjad
alphabet, i.e., an alphabet without vowels.

Thus, hieroglyphic writing representing a pintail duck is read in Egyptian as sꜣ, derived from the main
consonants of the Egyptian word for this duck: 's', 'ꜣ' and 't'. (Note that ꜣ or , two half-rings opening to the
left, sometimes replaced by the digit '3', is the Egyptian alef.)

It is also possible to use the hieroglyph

Twenty-four uniliteral signs make up the so-called hieroglyphic alphabet. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
does not normally indicate vowels, unlike cuneiform, and for that reason has been labelled by some an abjad
alphabet, i.e., an alphabet without vowels.

Thus, hieroglyphic writing representing a pintail duck is read in Egyptian as sꜣ, derived from the main
consonants of the Egyptian word for this duck: 's', 'ꜣ' and 't'. (Note that ꜣ or , two half-rings opening to the
left, sometimes replaced by the digit '3', is the Egyptian alef.)

It is also possible to use the hieroglyph

Twenty-four uniliteral signs make up the so-called hieroglyphic alphabet. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
does not normally indicate vowels, unlike cuneiform, and for that reason has been labelled by some an abjad
alphabet, i.e., an alphabet without vowels.

Thus, hieroglyphic writing representing a pintail duck is read in Egyptian as sꜣ, derived from the main
consonants of the Egyptian word for this duck: 's', 'ꜣ' and 't'. (Note that ꜣ or , two half-rings opening to the
left, sometimes replaced by the digit '3', is the Egyptian alef.)
It is also possible to use the hieroglyph of the pintail duck without a link to its meaning in order to represent
the two phonemes s and ꜣ, independently of any vowels that could accompany these consonants, and in this
way write the word: sꜣ, "son"; or when complemented by other signs detailed