1727, "ornamental groove in sculpture or architecture," from French glyphe (1701), from Greek glyphe "a carving," from glyphein "to hollow out, cut out with a knife, engrave, carve," also "to note down" on tablets, from PIE root *gleubh- "to cut, slice, tear apart" (cognates: Latin glubere "to peel, shell, strip," Old English cleofan "to cleave," Old Norse klofi, Middle Dutch clove "a cleft"). Meaning "sculpted mark or symbol" (as in hieroglyph) is from 1825. Related: Glyphic.