Learner's Maya Glyph Guide

Concordances
John Pedersen and Sim Lee, February 2026

These concordances provide a cross-reference for the three main Maya glyph-classification systems in current use: (i) the MHD codes, used in the Maya Hieroglyphic Database to encode a substantial portion of known Maya inscriptions; (ii) Bonn's TWKM codes, the recent rework and extension of T-numbers by the Bonn University TWKM Project; and (iii) the well-established, but outdated, T-numbers (Thompson, 1962: PDF [143 MB]), often encountered in published articles. Corresponding CMGG entries are also given when they exist; these provide many further glyph-variant examples and extensive diagnostic, linguistic, and other information.

Note: a) This is a preliminary release of these concordances. There are still some rough edges, especially in the CMGG Concordance, but we felt it would be useful to publish them anyway. Updates will be made as time allows; b) These concordances aim to reflect up-to-date versions of the MHD and TWKM Catalogs but both systems are dynamic and so there is always the possibility of some lag before changes in them are reflected here.

Click/Touch the buttons below to access the concordances. Each will pop up in its own window, which will be of the minimum width needed to see all the columns. If your screen is not wide enough, there will be a scrollbar at the bottom. You can zoom out (Ctrl-"-" or Ctrl-mouse-scroll) to make more of it fit. and/or you can resize the window to your liking. If you open multiple concordances, the windows will stack, slightly offset from each other; you can of course reposition, resize and/or minimize them as you want.

TWKM Concordance MHD Concordance T-number Concordance
(to  come)
CMGG Concordance
Lists all TWKM signs (as of 2026-01-31) and gives for each:
  • MHD code(s) corresponding to each code in the sign, if these have been determined
  • T-number(s) corresponding to each code in the sign, when these are provided in TWKM's Thompson concordance, and those corresponding to subsorts in any matching MHD codes, as given in the MHD Catalog
  • CMGG entries corresponding to the TWKM readings of the sign and those corresponding to the MHD readings of any corresponding MHD codes. There may also be additional CMGG entries given, determined as appropriate by the CMGG author, Sim Lee.
Not all MHD codes, not all T-numbers, and not all CMGG entries appear in this concordance because they do not all correspond to TWKM signs.
Lists all MHD codes (as of 2026-01-12) and gives for each:
  • TWKM sign(s) corresponding to it, if these have been determined
  • T-number(s) corresponding to each subsort, as given in the MHD Catalog, and T-number(s) corresponding to any matching TWKM codes, as given in TWKM's Thompson concordance
  • CMGG entries corresponding to the MHD readings of the code and those corresponding to the TWKM readings of any corresponding TWKM signs. There may also be additional CMGG entries given, determined as appropriate by the CMGG author, Sim Lee.
Not all TWKM codes, not all T-numbers, and not all CMGG entries appear in this concordance because they do not all correspond to MHD signs.
Will list all T-numbers and corresponding TWKM and MHD codes.

Meanwhile, T-numbers in current use can be found in the TWKM and MHD concordances.

Lists all CMGG syllabograms and logograms (as of 2025-11-15) and gives for each:
  • corresponding TWKM sign(s), if any
  • corresponding MHD code(s), if any
  • T-number(s) corresponding to any TWKM signs, when these are provided in TWKM's Thompson concordance, and those corresponding to any MHD codes, as given in the MHD Catalog.
Not all TWKM codes, not all MHD codes, and not all T-numbers appear in this concordance because they do not all correspond to CMGG entries.