Egyptian Symbols and Meanings

The ankh 𓋹 is the ancient Egyptian symbol of life.

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Symbols of life and rebirth

The ankh is the best-known life sign. The djed (stability) and the was scepter (dominion) often appear with it; the was scepter is listed under Symbols of power and kingship. A faience amulet in the British Museum combines the ankh, was scepter and djed for “life, power and stability for millions of years.”

Symbols of protection

These signs were worn or placed with the dead to keep harm away. For the difference between the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra, see Egyptian eye symbols.

Symbols of power and kingship

Crowns, sceptres and royal emblems belong here. For the protective eye, knot and vulture, see Symbols of protection.

Egyptian eye symbols

The Eye of Horus, or wedjat, is the healed eye of the god Horus. Seth injured the eye and Thoth restored it, so the wedjat stands for healing, protection and regeneration. It is the eye symbol listed under Symbols of protection on this page.

The Eye of Ra is a different idea: the active, solar eye of the sun god, not a separate character on this page. The Met's record for a winged wedjat with two uraei and a lion notes that this combination alludes to myths of the eye of the sun god Re, while the wedjat amulet record describes the healed eye of Horus as a symbol of protection and rebirth.

In short, the Eye of Horus is the healed eye and the Eye of Ra is the active solar eye. They can look similar in art, but the myths and the meanings attached to them are not interchangeable.

Order, truth and the heart

The heart and the feather of Maat belong to the judgment of the dead. The ka and ba, the parts of a person that continued after death, are listed under Symbols of life and rebirth.

Printable symbol chart

Download an A4 portrait PNG or a print-ready PDF with every symbol, its name, Gardiner code and one-sentence meaning. The chart is generated in your browser from the same data as the cards above.

What these symbols are

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs are a script of pictures, but a picture does not always stand for the object it shows. A sign can be read as a sound, as a whole word, or as a clue to the meaning of another word. The entries on this page are a selection of signs, amulets and royal emblems that are often searched for by name.

Many of these shapes began as ordinary things: a loop of rope, an ostrich feather, a beetle, a lotus. Over centuries they also became amulets and symbols of gods, kings and the afterlife. The ankh is the sign for life, for example, while the djed pillar came to stand for stability and for the backbone of Osiris.

Each card gives the sign's name, its Gardiner sign-list code and its Unicode codepoint. The sentence under the name is a paraphrase of the museum or university record listed with that symbol. It is a short orientation, not a complete dictionary entry, because one sign can have several readings depending on context.

If you want to see how these signs work as a writing system, the Egyptian hieroglyphics alphabet groups the sound signs by letter.

To write a name or a short phrase, use the hieroglyphics translator with the same signs. Neither page is a dictionary of meanings; they show how the signs are used for transliteration.

How to copy and paste Egyptian symbols

Every symbol on this page is a Unicode character, not an image. Click a card to copy the character and add it to the spelling strip; the strip's Copy all button copies the whole sequence, and Clear empties it. The separate copy button on each card copies only that character.

Paste the characters into a document, message or design file. They render correctly only when the app and the chosen font contain the Egyptian Hieroglyphs block (Unicode U+13000–U+1342F). Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a free font that covers the block; if you see empty boxes, switch the text to that font or use the character in an image editor.

Some platforms replace unknown characters with a fallback glyph or remove them. Test a short sequence before you rely on it in a caption, a school worksheet or a printed design. The copy value is plain text and carries no hidden formatting.

Using them in your own design

The symbols work well as small graphic accents: an ankh in a title, a scarab in a logo, a djed pillar in a border. Keep the reading in mind. A sign that means “life” or “stability” is not a neutral decoration in Egyptian terms, and a sequence copied from this page is not automatically a grammatical phrase.

For a name inside a royal oval, use the cartouche tool on the hieroglyphics translator, which builds an SVG or PNG from the signs. For a tattoo or a permanent design, ask someone who reads hieroglyphs to check the signs, the direction and the spelling before you commit.

Sources are listed at the bottom of the page. They are museum catalogue entries and a university reference work; the wording on the cards stays close to those records instead of repeating popular but unsourced claims.

Sources

Each meaning on this page is a paraphrase of the record linked below. Museum catalogue entries and the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology were used instead of unsourced symbol lists.

Ceremonial Implement in the Shape of an Ankh— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ankh
Scarab— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Scarab (Kheper)
Djed Pillar Amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Djed pillar
Broad collar of Nefer Amulets— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Nefer
Transforming the Dead: funerary beliefs— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ka
Ba-bird— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ba
Model Lotus Flower— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lotus
Menat counterpoise with figures of Hathor— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Menat
Statue of Senenmut Holding a Sistrum— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sistrum
Papyrus column amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Papyrus
Wedjat Eye Amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Eye of Horus (Wedjat)
Shen amulet of Reniseneb— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Shen ring
Tit (Isis knot) amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tyet (Knot of Isis)
Nekhbet amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Vulture (G14)
Head of a was scepter— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Was scepter
Wooden funerary stela of Deniuenkhonsu— The British Museum
Sun disk (Ra)
Uraeus Amulet of Djedmutesankh— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Uraeus (cobra)
Sculpted group of Osiris flanked by Horus and a king— Musée du Louvre
Crook (heqa), Flail (nekhakha)
Scarab Decorated with Symbol of Unification— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sema (union)
Cartouche (Cathie Spieser, 2010)— UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology
Cartouche (shenu)
Head of Ahmose I— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hedjet (white crown)
Amulet of a crown of Lower Egypt— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Deshret (red crown)
Falcon wearing a Double Crown— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pschent (double crown)
Scarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs (gold sign)— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Nebu (gold)
Scarab with the Throne Name of Amenhotep III— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Neb (basket)
Pyramidion of Intef— The British Museum
Pyramid
Scarab Commemorating Two Obelisks of Thutmose III— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Obelisk
Heart amulet— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ib (heart)
What is mummification? Notes for teachers— The British Museum
Feather of Maat
Wedjat Eye Amulet with uraei and lion— The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Egyptian eye symbols
Faience amulet combining ankh, was-sceptre and djed— The British Museum
Symbols of life and rebirth

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous Egyptian symbol?

The ankh is the most widely recognized Egyptian symbol. It is the hieroglyph for life, and Egyptian gods are shown holding it or offering it to the king. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

What does the 𓂀 symbol mean?

The 𓂀 is the wedjat, the healed Eye of Horus. It stands for healing, protection and regeneration, and amulets in this shape were worn by the living and placed with the dead. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

What symbolizes life in ancient Egypt?

The ankh is the main sign for life. The scarab and the lotus also express rebirth and regeneration, and the djed pillar stands for stability and the revived Osiris. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Is the ankh a Christian symbol?

No. The ankh began as an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for life. Some Coptic Christian art later used the ankh-shaped crux ansata as a cross, but that is a later reuse of the sign, not its original meaning. Source: The British Museum

Which Egyptian symbols mean protection?

The Eye of Horus, the tyet knot of Isis, the shen ring and the uraeus cobra are protective symbols, and so is the vulture of Nekhbet. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Can I use Egyptian symbols for a tattoo?

You can use them as a starting point, but ask someone who reads hieroglyphs to check the signs, spelling and direction before a permanent design. This page does not guarantee that a tattoo is historically or grammatically correct.