Egyptian Words

As well as the signs which stand for single sounds, Egyptian uses many signs that stand for two or three sounds   ka     an(k)h     d(e)wa 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:   words to do with movement     words associated with man and his activities     words associated with woman and her activities     words associated with water     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.