Tezahuatl (MH775v)

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tezahuatl ("Mite") is attested here as a man's name. The sign is not a drawing of a mite, which is a small, eight-legged arachnid. Rather the sign provides two phonetic indicators, one for Te- (from tentli, lip or edge, in profile, facing toward the viewer's right) and the other, a coiling swirl of water (atl), with three offshoots, providing the -a or -ahua in the middle of the name. The three short streams of water each have a bead-like droplet at the end and a black line down the middle to show current or movement.