Hierogrammatic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Written or expressed using sacred characters or hieroglyphic symbols
2. Composed of or conveyed through sacred script or hieroglyphic writing
3. Inscribed in or relating to the use of sacred or hieroglyphic characters

Etymology: "Hierogrammatic" is an adjective meaning relating to hieroglyphic writing, or to a sacred or symbolic script. It was formed in English on the model of the French "hiérogrammatique," so the two words share the same structure and sense. Both come from Greek roots: "hieros," meaning sacred, and "gramma," meaning letter or written mark, the same root that gives English "grammar" and "-gram." The word's neighbours in English are more familiar than it is. "Hieroglyphic" comes from the Greek "hieroglyphikos," built from "hieros" and "glyphein," to carve, and it has been used in English far longer. "Hierogrammatic" belongs to the same family of learned coinages, built from the same Greek elements, and it simply emphasises the writing rather than the carving. Its appearance in English is a case of scholars reaching for classical building blocks to name a kind of script they were studying.

Synonyms: hieroglyphic, hieroglyphical, symbolic