The writing of the Egyptians began with pictures. At first the pictures meant just the things that were drawn, for example, a house, a lion, a big snake, a dish, a duck, or a man. Then pictures were drawn to stand for ideas and actions. The picture of an eagle meant "eagle". If the eagle had a man's head, the picture meant "soul". The picture of an eye meant "eye", but the picture of two eyes meant "see", and if tears fell from the eyes, the picture meant "cry".
The Egyptians did something else with the pictures of their written language. They used some of the pictures to stand for sounds in their language. Although the picture of an eagle meant the bird, it could also stand for vowel sound [a:] as in English word "car". Egyptian writing was difficult. It is a puzzle made from pictures.
They stand for the sound, but do not stand for the meaning of a word. In old Egypt there was a group of people, and their only work was writing. They were called "scribes". We know how they looked and worked. Because scribes appear in many of the paintings that tell us about the life of old Egypt. A scribe usually carried a roll of papyrus under one arm, and under the other arm he carried a wood pen with an inkpot.
A scribe had to know how to make many pictures. The twenty-six letters in alphabet spell all its sounds, and they are learned by English and American small children. The Egyptians had more than 3,000 pictures in their writing. Only 600 were often used.
The Egyptians made writing an art and developed it better. They had pictures for things, for actions and ideas, and for some sounds. But they did not have a true alphabet for every sound in the Egyptian language.