hieratic

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: hi=er=at=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

hieratic, a. [L. hieraticus, Gr. "ieratiko`s; akin to "iero`s sacred: cf. F. hiératique.].

 Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to priests.  [1913 Webster]
"It was a false notion of the Greeks that of the three kinds of writing used by the Egyptians, two -- for that reason called hieroglyphic and hieratic -- were employed only for sacred, while the third, the demotic, was employed for secular, purposes. No such distinction is discoverable on the more ancient Egyptian monuments; bur we retain the old names founded on misapprehension."  [1913 Webster]

Hieratic character, a mode of ancient Egyptian writing; a modified form of hieroglyphics, tending toward a cursive hand and formerly supposed to be the sacerdotal character, as the demotic was supposed to be that of the people.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hieratic, adj.
1 of or concerning priests.
2 of the ancient Egyptian writing of abridged hieroglyphics as used by priests (opp. DEMOTIC).
3 of or concerning Egyptian or Greek traditional styles of art.
4 priestly.

Derivative

hieratically adv.

Etymology

L f. Gk hieratikos f. hieraomai be a priest f. hiereus priest