Approximately how many distinct glyphs are known in the Maya script?

Approximately 800 distinct glyphs are known in the Maya script. These signs made up a sophisticated logosyllabic writing system used across the Maya world for more than 1,500 years.

A Maya glyph could represent a complete word, called a logogram, or a syllable. Scribes combined these elements in flexible ways, adding phonetic signs to clarify pronunciation or meaning. The same word could therefore be written with different combinations of signs, which makes the total count less straightforward than counting letters in an alphabet.

The figure of 800 refers to known signs and variants, not 800 symbols all used equally often. Scholars estimate that only about 300 to 500 signs were commonly used during particular periods. Many surviving inscriptions appear on stone monuments, painted ceramics, stucco, and bark-paper codices. Modern decipherment has revealed royal names, historical events, religious texts, astronomy, and calendar calculations, although some signs and readings remain uncertain.