Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Architecture A vertical groove, especially in a Doric column or frieze.
  • noun A symbolic figure that is usually engraved or incised.
  • noun A symbol, such as a stylized figure or arrow on a public sign, that imparts information nonverbally.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In sculpture and architecture, a groove or channel, usually vertical, intended as an ornament. See triglyph.
  • noun A written or pictured character, sign, or symbol representing a word or an idea; an ideograph: as, the Mexican or Mayan glyphs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) A sunken channel or groove, usually vertical. See triglyph.
  • noun (Archæol.) A carved figure or character, incised or in relief; a carved pictograph; hence, a pictograph representing a form originally adopted for sculpture, whether carved or painted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A figure carved in relief or incised, especially representing a sound, word, or idea.
  • noun Any non-verbal symbol that imparts information.
  • noun typography, computing A visual representation of a letter, character, or symbol, in a specific font and style.
  • noun architecture A vertical groove.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun glyptic art in the form of a symbolic figure carved or incised in relief

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek gluphē, carving, from gluphein, to carve; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word glyph.

Examples

  • Be particularly wary of terms that are familiar to only a small segment of your customers, such as the term glyph to mean symbol.

    Site Home Valerie Woolley 2012

  • Julian Sanchez … can to give an example of specifically why you believe a certain glyph is a specific letter. i.e. why is the seahorse an N. Otto

    Solution to the Fringe Glyph Cipher 2009

  • For example, when I visit Daring Fireball using Chrome, for some reason all of the left hand menu items disappear into a string of empty character symbols (the character you sometimes get in a font if a particular glyph is missing).

    Chrome dome « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2010

  • An early reference to food and the pleasure it brings can be found on a 12th century glyph from the Nuttall Codex.

    A feast for the eye: A painterly view of Mexican food 2006

  • An early reference to food and the pleasure it brings can be found on a 12th century glyph from the Nuttall Codex.

    A feast for the eye: A painterly view of Mexican food 2006

  • Furthermore, clicking the Reset label glyph places the label at the middle edge of the structure, not the original label location.

    All Discussion Groups: Message List - root 2009

  • One of the symbols recalls the ajaw glyph, which is both a calendrical day name and the word for king.

    Earliest Mesoamerican Writing? 2003

  • Brinton calls the glyph the "fish and oyster sign."

    Animal Figures in the Maya Codices 1915

  • The tablix you designed is now displayed in the design surface like this: Product Category Key English Product Category Name Open the smart tags panel of the ReportViewer1 control by clicking the smart-tag glyph on the top right corner.

    Site Home SQL Server Forum Support Team 2011

  • A glyph is the label, and the image triggered in your mind by that word or label which you abstracted from experience.

    1. MajorityRights.com (main blog) 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • a letter.

    February 6, 2007

  • I work with computers, and I've never heard any say "glyph" to mean letter. The usual term is character, but you'll often heard alphanumeric, or even "letter".

    February 7, 2007

  • There are lots of jobs in which people work with computers. I'm sure in some circles it is "computer lingo" as mager says. For example, among designers, perhaps.

    February 18, 2007

  • What do mean by designer? A web designer? A graphic artist?

    February 18, 2007

  • I am a web designer, and if you used the word glyph in my shop you'd probably be escorted to the door. Character is the term of choice in this industry. Actually, the only times I've ever heard "glyph" used in speech it referred to hieroglyphs or petroglyphs: ancient linguistic units, as opposed to modern high-tech ones.

    February 18, 2007

  • I was merely suggesting, on mager's behalf, that it could well be "computer lingo" in some circles, and not in others. Sorry to offend designers out there by implying they might one day use this word.

    What a hilarious misunderstanding! *rolls eyes*

    February 19, 2007

  • I'm not complaining, I'm honestly interested in knowing where and how glyph is used in computer lingo to mean letter.

    February 19, 2007

  • Funny, way back in the days before computers, this word was used in printing (at least in book publishing) fairly regularly, at least in my world. Not so anymore.

    It's also a damn fun word to say. :-)

    February 19, 2007

  • Glyph. Glyph. GLYPH. Damn, reesetee, you're right!

    February 19, 2007

  • symbols representing the signs of the zodiac and the planets and their geometric aspects or relationships

    February 17, 2008

  • i've seen Jakob Nielsen use it in reference to an element (not alphanumeric) of his web page.

    December 10, 2008