for Ḥ·t-Ḥrw “Hathor.” A word-sign may be compounded with its phonetic complement, as
ḥz “white,” or with its determinative, as
ḥz “silver.”
The table on the opposite page shows the uses of a few of the commoner signs.
The decorative value of hieroglyphic was fully appreciated in Egypt. The aim of the artist-scribe was to arrange his variously shaped characters into square groups, and this could be done in great measure by taking advantage of the different ways in which many words could be spelt. Thus ḥs could be written
, ḥsy