Keyman keyboard "Egyptian Hieroglyphs"

Download

1. Download beta version of the keyboard from here.
2. Download Keyman software from here.

Encoding codes

This Keyman keyboard lets you type Egyptian hieroglyphs and their arrangement directly using Unicode (blocks U+13000-U+1342F and the Extended-A block U+13460-U+143FA).

The input method is similar to JSesh: you type a code in Latin letters and confirm it with the [Space bar] to have it converted into the corresponding hieroglyphic sign.

1. Entering individual hieroglyphs

A hieroglyph is always entered as code + [Space]. There are three ways to address a sign:

(a) By Gardiner sign code

Type the Gardiner-like code (letter + number, e.g., A1, D21, N35) and press Space. Upper and lower case both work (A1 and a1 give the same result).

(b) By transliteration in Manuel de Codage

Instead of the Gardiner-like code you can also type the predominant phonetic reading (transliteration) of a sign, e.g., nfr, anx, nTr, and press [Space]. As in JSesh, transliteration follows the Manuel de Codage convention, where certain letters stand for special transliteration characters, notably: A = ꜣ, a = ꜥ, i = ꞽ, y = ï (or y), H = ḥ, x = ḫ, X = ẖ, S = š, T = ṯ, D = ḏ.

Cycling through signs with the same transliteration

Several Gardiner-like signs can share the same transliteration. Typing the transliteration + [Space] inserts a prioritized (default) sign first. Pressing [Space] again replaces it with the next sign that shares the same reading, and so on, until the cycle returns to the first sign.

Example for the transliteration n:

(c) By Unicode codepoint

As a last resort, you can also type a \ (backslash) followed by the last four digits of the hex codepoint of a sign in lower case, e.g., \3f88 for 𓾈.
For the codepoints, see

• Basic set (U+13000-1342F),
• Expanded set (U+13460-143FA).

Code overview

For an overview of the transliteration and Gardiner-like codes, see the code table.

2. Control characters and special glyphs

Control characters are used to combine, position, and modify individual signs (quadrant placement, joining, enclosures, damage, rotation, etc.), similar to the composition operators in JSesh.

Note that, currently (state of 20 Aug 2026), only a single font supports control characters for the basic set of hieroglyphs only. Another font supports all hieroglyphs but no control characters. See §3 below.

Every control character is entered the same way as a sign: type its code and press [Space] to confirm it.

2.1 Joiners

2.2 Sign insertion (quadrant position) and stacking

2.3 Code segments

2.4 Blank & lost quadrats

2.5 Enclosures: cartouche, ḥwt, srḫ, fortified ring, fortified enclosure

Enclosure connection controls

In order to connect the beginning and the end of an enclosure you need to signal the beginning and the end of the connecting lines. For example, type < eb  …  ee > to create a full cartouche.

2.6 Damage shading overlays

Digits 1-4 indicate a damaged quarter of a sign: 1 = Top Start, 2 = Top End, 3 = Bottom Start, 4 = Bottom End. Combine digits to mark several damaged quarters at once.

Note that damage shading cannot be applied to quadrat groups (as in JSesh) but to signs only in Unicode for conceptual reasons. The codes like #12 effectively are equivalent to \shading12 in JSesh (not to #12 in JSesh).

2.7 Mirroring

2.8 Selected rotations via variation selectors

Caveat: Unlike in JSesh, there is no free rotation applicable to any hieroglyph in Unicode (due to technical restrictions in font implementations, state of early 2020s). Instead, rotated variants are registered for selected signs and selected angles. For a list of registered sign/angle combinations and the corresponding variation selectors, see the Unicode documents L2/22-012, L2/24-238, and StandardizedVariants.txt.
Rotation apart from these predefined cases is not possible.

vs1-vs7 select a predefined rotated variant of a sign. Alternatively, use \r / \R followed by the base angle.

3. Fonts included in the package

Unicode blocks supported by the keyboard are:

• Egyptian Hieroglyphs (basic block) ✓
• Egyptian Hieroglyphs Extended-A ✓
• Egyptian Hieroglyph Format Controls ✓
• Egyptian Hieroglyph Variation Selectors ✓

The following fonts are included in the package:

For an up-to-date overview, additional fonts, and possible newer versions, see here.

Credits

Created by Daniel A. Werning (BBAW) on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities with contributions by Corvin Ziegeler (BBAW), based on

• a hieroglyphic keyboard by Andrew Glass (Microsoft, with kind permission)
• the keyboards United States-International Basic and German Basic by SIL International
• code matching table from JSesh project (ManuelDeCodage.java, signs_description.xml, 9 June 2026, with kind permission)
• frequency information from Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae project.

© Daniel A. Werning on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2026.