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Egyptian gods' names in hieroglyphs: Amun, Ra, Osiris, Isis

14 October 2026

Most Egyptian gods' names are spelled with sound signs and then a small seated god, a silent sign that marks the word as divine. Amun is a reed leaf, a game board and a ripple of water. Ptah is a stool, a loaf and a twisted wick. A few gods need only one picture: a falcon is Horus, a sun disc is Ra.

In a pharaoh's cartouche the god usually stands at the front, even where his name is spoken last. Egyptologists call this honorific transposition.

Sound signs spell most gods' names

Amun, imn (say "Amun" or "Amen"), is written with three signs. The flowering reed M17 gives i, the game board Y5 gives the two consonants mn, and the ripple of water N35 repeats the n to confirm it. After them may come the seated god A40, which is not pronounced. The name is usually explained as "the hidden one".

Ptah, the creator god of Memphis and patron of craftsmen, is spelled out letter by letter: the stool Q3 for p, the bread loaf X1 for t and the twisted flax wick V28 for ḥ. That gives ptḥ. A determinative of the god can follow.

Flowering reed Game board Ripple of water Seated god Stool Bread loaf Twisted flax wick

One picture can write a whole god

Horus is often just a falcon, G5. Its reading is ḥr ("Hor"), and the bird is the god himself. The meanings "the distant one" or "the one above" are sometimes proposed for the name, but they remain guesses.

Ra is rꜥ, which is also the ordinary Egyptian word for "sun". The short spelling is the sun disc N5, often with a single stroke Z1 beneath it to show that the picture means what it shows. The full spelling adds the sounds first: the mouth D21 for r and the forearm D36 for ꜥ, then the sun.

Falcon Sun Single stroke Mouth Forearm

Osiris and Isis share a sign

Osiris and Isis both begin with the seat Q1. For Osiris it sits above the eye D4, and the seated god A40 can close the word. Egyptologists usually transliterate the name wsjr ("Wesir"). Some prefer other readings, and no explanation of its meaning has won general agreement.

Isis is the seat Q1, the bread loaf X1, the egg H8 and the seated woman B1. The seat writes st, the loaf confirms the t, and the egg and the woman mark a goddess. Her name is transliterated ꜣst. The word for "throne" was also st, and some scholars think Isis began as the throne made divine. Others reject the idea. She wears the same seat on her head in paintings and reliefs.

Seat Eye Egg Seated woman

Tutankhamun's name puts Amun first

The birth name of Tutankhamun shows the rule at work. The cartouche opens with Amun: M17, Y5, N35. Then come the loaf X1, the quail chick G43 and a second loaf X1, which spell twt, "image". The ankh S34 follows, ꜥnḫ, "living".

Written order: imn, twt, ꜥnḫ. Spoken order: twt-ꜥnḫ-imn, "living image of Amun". The god's name was moved to the front out of respect. The cartouche often adds ḥqꜣ-iwnw-šmꜥ, "ruler of Upper Egyptian Heliopolis", with the crook S38, the column O28 and the flowering sedge M26.

Scribes did the same with ordinary words. The Egyptians called their own script mdw nṯr, "the god's words": the god sign R8 is written before the staff S43 of mdw, "words", although it is read after it.

Quail chick Ankh Crook Column Flowering sedge Cloth on a pole Walking stick

Build Tutankhamun's cartouche

Throne names often put Ra at the top

Throne names often put Ra at the top. Tutankhamun's throne name begins with the sun disc N5, then the scarab L1 with plural strokes Z2, then the basket V30. It is read nb-ḫprw-rꜥ, Nebkheperure, "Lord of forms is Ra", with Ra last.

Ramesses II's birth name puts two gods at the front. Amun and Ra are written at the beginning of the cartouche, yet the name is read rꜥ-ms-sw mry-imn, "Ra is the one who bore him, beloved of Amun". Ra is spoken first and Amun last. Merneptah, mr-n-ptḥ, "beloved of Ptah", opens with Ptah's three signs, followed by the hoe U7 and the water N35 for mr-n.

Amenhotep, imn-ḥtp, "Amun is content", really does begin with Amun, and in some royal names scholars still argue about where the god belongs. Read the sound signs, find the god, then ask where the sentence needs him.

Scarab beetle Plural strokes Basket Hoe

Karnak and Abydos are full of gods' names

Karnak in Luxor was the great temple of Amun, built and rebuilt for some two thousand years, so his three signs are everywhere: on obelisks, columns and inside the names of the kings who built there.

Abydos was the holy city of Osiris. In the temple of Seti I, seven chapels stand side by side for Seti, Ptah, Re-Horakhty, Amun, Osiris, Isis and Horus, and each god's name is carved over and over in fine painted relief. Look for the seat and eye of Osiris and the falcon of Horus.

Point the camera at a god's name

Questions

What does the name Amun mean?

It is usually translated "the hidden one" or "the invisible". In the New Kingdom he was joined with the sun god as Amun-Ra, written with Amun's three signs and the sun disc.

Is Ra the same as Re?

Yes. Egyptian writing leaves out vowels, so rꜥ is spelled Ra in most popular books and Re in many scholarly ones.

Why is the god's name written first if it is read last?

Out of respect: gods, kings and words like "god" and "king" took the front place in writing. The spoken word order did not change.

Which signs do I need to recognise the main gods?

The game board Y5 for Amun, the sun disc N5 for Ra, the seat Q1 for Osiris and Isis, the falcon G5 for Horus and the stool Q3 for Ptah. Add the seated god A40, the usual sign after a god's name.

Glossary

ankh: The sign of life, ꜥnḫ, a cross with a loop on top. Gods hold it out to kings in temple scenes.
birth name: The name a king was given at birth, written in the second cartouche after the title "son of Ra". Egyptologists also call it the nomen.
cartouche: An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
determinative: A sign at the end of a word that is not read aloud. It shows what kind of thing the word means, such as a seated man for men and their jobs.
honorific transposition: Writing the name of a god or king first, out of respect, even where it is read later in the phrase.
pharaoh: The king of Egypt. The word comes from per-aa, "great house", a name for the palace that came to mean the king himself in the New Kingdom.
relief: A carving on a flat surface. In raised relief the background is cut away. In sunk relief the figures are cut into the stone.
scarab: The dung beetle, sign of the rising sun and of the word ḫpr, "to come into being". Carved scarabs were used as seals and amulets.
scribe: A person trained to read and write, who kept accounts, wrote letters and copied texts. Few Egyptians could write, and scribes were well respected.
temple: The house of a god, where priests served the god's statue. Temples for dead kings kept up their offerings after death.
throne name: The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.
transliteration: Writing Egyptian in Latin letters, one letter for each sound sign, such as ꜥnḫ for ankh. Egyptologists say the words with an e between consonants.