For instance, if a single glyph could denote the name of a Mayan fruit, it was a logogram. They were images or symbols which could be used to denote an entire word. Logograms were the more comprehensive type of Mayan glyphs. Both were extensively used in Mayan hieroglyphics.

Some of these are classified as logograms by the modern scholarship while others are categorised as syllabograms. There were many different ways of spelling a single Mayan word, consequently Mayans had a large body of glyphs.

Glyphs were individual units of language which usually comprised of one or more symbols and were used to denote a single phrase or a word. The hieroglyphic language of the Mayans usually comprised of the use of individual alphabets which are called glyphs. Although of obscure origins, the Mayan hieroglyphic were the only well-advanced writing system that existing in the pre-Colombian Americas. However, most researchers agree that the hieroglyphic system had already been developed and was in use much before this date. The earliest extant written proof of the hieroglyphics is dated back to sometime between 300 B.C. Researchers have been unable to peg a certain date on the origins of Mayan hieroglyphic language. Mayan hieroglyphics were also inscribed on monumental structures as part of stelas or carvings. The priests used the language to pen down books on a wide range of subjects, including books related to astronomy, religion, mythology and mathematics. The use of Mayan hieroglyphics was limited to the Mayan priestly class. The individual units in the language, or its alphabets, were called glyphs. Since the language comprised of symbols and images, resembling the language of ancient Egypt, the Spanish conquistadors termed it hieroglyphics. Mayans made use of a very well-developed and advanced written language.

All ancient glyphs compared