Hieroglyphs Addenda · Signs

𓊪Q3 · p · reed mat or stool

stool

Where it comes from

A stool or mat of woven reed, seen from above — a plain square of furniture. It writes p; and because the little word pw, “it is,” starts with p, this humble seat props up half the definitions in Egyptian literature.

How to remember it

A stool is the simplest thing that holds you up — and pw, “it is,” is the simplest sentence that holds a claim up. Square seat, square sound, load-bearing both.

In the wild

Piece by piece:

• mw — water
• pw — it is: the stool-sign, compressed to bare p here, carrying the whole sentence

Ptahhotep’s two-word verdict on the fleeting thing he is describing — the very line that opened 102’s chapter 01.