At the beginning of the Late Period (-652), the hieratic script is further simplified into what is in Greek called demotic (‘popular, profane’) script. Letter shapes become even more abstract, and letters are connected in cursive writing. The system of hieroglyphic/hieratic writing persists: there are still logograms, uni- or biliteral phonograms and determinatives. However, in the course of time, more and more logograms and pluriliteral phonograms are replaced by letters. Furthermore, the consonant letters start being used for the representation of vowels, first in loans: <w> is used for /u/ and /o/, <j> is used for /i/.

This script initially develops in offices, but then becomes the everyday script. In the latter function, demotic script ousts the hieratic script, which gets reduced to religious purposes. From the 4^th cent. on, demotic script is in turn replaced by coptic script.

Stele in Demotic. Source: Wikipedia.de s.v. Bild:Demotisch.jpg