šw

See also: sw, SW, Sw, sŵ, Sw., and św.

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /ʃuː/
  • Conventional anglicization: shu

Adjective

1. perfective active participle of šwj: empty, devoid, lacking

Inflection

Declension of šw (perfective active participle)

	masculine	feminine
singular	šw	šwt
dual	šwwj	šwtj
plural	šww	šwwt1, šwt2
Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun. From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural. In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Proper noun

 m

1. the god Shu (literally “Emptiness”), personification of the space between the earth and sky [since the Pyramid Texts]

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of šw  

šw	šw	šw	šw	šw	šw	šw
[Old Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the Middle Kingdom]	[since the New Kingdom]	[Greco-Roman Period]	[Greco-Roman Period]

Descendants

• → Ancient Greek: Σῶς (Sôs)
• → English: Shu

Noun

 m

1. blank (sheet or roll of) papyrus [since the Middle Kingdom]

   ― šw wꜥb ― clean sheet of papyrus

Inflection

Declension of šw (masculine)

singular	šw
dual	šwwj
plural	šww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of šw  

šww	šw
[New Kingdom]	[Late Period]
in hieratic

Noun

 m

1. destitute or needy person, one who has nothing

Inflection

Declension of šw (masculine)

singular	šw
dual	šwwj
plural	šww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of šw  

šw

[Late Period]

Noun

 m

1. light (of the sun or moon) falling on things, light as opposed to shadow; sunlight or moonlight [since the Middle Kingdom]

   ― jrj šw ― to produce light

   ― rḏj n šw ― to set in the sun

2. sun
3. (figuratively) epithet for the king [since the Amarna Period]

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of šw  

šw	šw	šw	šwy	šww	šww
			[New Kingdom]	[Late and Greco-Roman Periods]	[Late and Greco-Roman Periods]
			in hieratic

Noun

 m

1. parasol, sunshade [Pyramid Texts and Old Kingdom]
2. protection [Pyramid Texts and Old Kingdom]

Inflection

Declension of šw (masculine)

singular	šw
dual	šwwj
plural	šww

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of šw  

šw	šjw

Related terms

• šwt

See also

• 𓆄

References

• “šw (lemma ID 152710)”, “šw (lemma ID 152700)”, “šw (lemma ID 152680)”, “šw (lemma ID 152750)”, and “šw (lemma ID 152770)”, in Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae‎^[1], Corpus issue 18, Web app version 2.1.5, Tonio Sebastian Richter & Daniel A. Werning by order of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert & Peter Dils by order of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 2004–26 July 2023
• Erman, Adolf, Grapow, Hermann (1930) Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[2], volume 4, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 427.20, 428.5–428.12, 429.1–429.4, 430.6–431.12, 432.1–432.5
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN, page 263
• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 148–149.