テフヌトの兄を含む多くのエジプトの神々と同様に、テフヌトは単一の表意文字や記号を持っていない。彼女の名前を象形文字で表すと、4つの単一音素記号t-f-n-tで構成される。nの音素は水面の波を表現しているが、水(mw)という言葉や水に関連するものの表意文字や決定文字として使われることはなかった<ref>Betro, Maria Carmela, Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt, 1996, Abbeville Press, isbn:0-7892-0232-8, [https://archive.org/details/michelangelovati00deve/page/163 163], https://archive.org/details/michelangelovati00deve</ref>。
==Mythological origins神話的起源 ==[[File:Egyptian - Menat with the Heads of the Deities Shu and Tefnut - Walters 541515.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[menat]] depicting Tefnut and her husband-brother [[Shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]].]]
Tefnut is a daughter of the [[solar deity]] [[Ra]]-[[Atum]]. Married to her twin brother [[Shu (Egyptian god)|Shu]], she is mother of [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]], the sky and [[Geb]], the earth. Tefnut's grandchildren were [[Osiris]], [[Isis]], [[Set (deity)|Set]], [[Nephthys]], and, in some versions, [[Haroeris|Horus the Elder]]. She was also the great-grandmother of [[Harpocrates|Horus the Younger]]. Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, she is a member of the [[Ennead]] of [[Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]].