There were about 1,000 graphemes in the Old Kingdom period, reduced to around 750 to 850 in the classical language of the Middle Kingdom, but inflated to the order of some 5,000 signs in the Ptolemaic period. Antonio Loprieno, Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995), p. 12.
The standard inventory of characters used in Egyptology is 加汀納符號表 (1928–1953).
A.H. Gardiner (1928), Catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, from matrices owned and controlled by Dr. Alan Gardiner, "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1928)", in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15 (1929), p. 95; , "Additions to the new hieroglyphic fount (1931)", in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 17 (1931), pp. 245-247; A.H. Gardiner , "Supplement to the catalogue of the Egyptian hieroglyphic printing type, showing acquisitions to December 1953" (1953).
Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyphs(英语:Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Unicode block)) as of version 5.2 (2009) assigned 1,070 Unicode characters.
Collier, Mark & Bill Manley. How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: a step-by-step guide to teach yourself. British Museum Press. 1998. ISBN 0-7141-1910-5.
Selden, Daniel L. Hieroglyphic Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Literature of the Middle Kingdom. University of California Press. 2013. ISBN 0-520-27546-2.
Faulkner, Raymond O. Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian. Griffith Institute. 1962. ISBN 0-900416-32-7.
Gardiner, Sir Alan H. Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. The Griffith Institute. 1973. ISBN 0-900416-35-1.