Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓃀D58 · b · lower leg and foot

leg

Where it comes from

A lower leg with its foot — shin, heel, and toes in profile, standing. It writes b, and unlike the walking pair D54 this leg goes nowhere: it is planted, a support.

How to remember it

One leg, standing its ground — b as in bear the weight. Two legs walk; one leg holds. When negation needs a firm stance (bn, “not”), this is the leg it stands on.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• j:ḫr — fallen, the striking-man classifierEgyptology's name for a determinative — the silent sign closing a word to say what kind of thing it is: person, speech, plural, idea landing the blow
• sbn — slides away, this leg inside the slipping

The enemy falls and slides; the leg-sign, ironically, is in the sliding. The sign is taught in 101’s chapter 04.