Hippopotamus (hieroglyph)

The Hippopotamus (hieroglyph) is Gardiner sign listed no. E25, in the category of mammals. It is used in Egyptian hieroglyphs as a determinative in words designating the animal, in Egyptian as db, and kh3b.

The hieroglyph shows the massiveness of the hippo's body, on its short legs. In Late Period Egypt, it was also used for words related to "heavy" (namely dns, udn-(wdn).