Writing in Ancient Egypt

All of the words in English used the same 26 letters. These 26 letters make up the English alphabet. The letters in the alphabet help us sound words out.

How would you write if there were no an alphabet?

Before people used an alphabet, they wrote with pictures and signs. The pictures and signs used in Ancient Egypt are called hieroglyphics. Every word had its own picture or sign. So people had to go to school for many years to learn to write with hieroglyphics.

People in Egypt no longer use hieroglyphics. As we do in English, people in Egypt today use an alphabet when they write. Alphabets allow people to make many words out of a few letters.