Egyptian hieroglyphs in Unicode
How an ancient writing system became code points — and how to type them correctly today.
In 2009 an ancient writing system joined the digital age: Unicode encoded over a thousand Egyptian Hieroglyphs, starting at code point U+13000.
The Egyptian Hieroglyphs block
The core block covers the signs catalogued in Gardiner’s classic sign list — birds, tools, people and symbols like the Eye of Horus 𓂀 (U+13080). Later additions extended the set for specialist scholarly use.
Typing and rendering them
You’ll need a font with hieroglyph coverage, such as Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Without it, the characters fall back to “tofu” boxes. Controls also exist for arranging signs into the quadrats (grouped blocks) real Egyptian writing uses.
Why encode a dead script?
Standardised code points let researchers exchange texts as plain, searchable data instead of images — a quiet revolution for digital Egyptology.