hieroglyphic vs obscure

hieroglyphic

adj
  • difficult to decipher 

  • of, relating to, or written with this system of symbols 

noun
  • Undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol. 

  • Any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph. 

  • A writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds as a rebus 

obscure

adj
  • Difficult to understand. 

  • Dark, faint or indistinct. 

  • Not well-known. 

  • Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous. 

  • Unknown or uncertain; unclear. 

verb
  • To hide, put out of sight etc. 

  • To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious. 

How often have the words hieroglyphic and obscure occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )