What do the colours of the Egypt flag mean?

Red: the period of struggle against occupation. White: the bloodless 1952 revolution. Black: the end of oppression.

How do you tell the Egypt flag from the Iraq one?

Iraq has the takbir in green Kufic script on the white band, not an eagle.

When was the Egypt flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1984, and its official ratio is 2:3.

The flag of Egypt

Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and black, with the golden Eagle of Saladin centred on the white.

Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 1984

Egypt

Field and colours only. Not shown: the golden Eagle of Saladin centred on the white band.

Red, white and black are the Arab Liberation colours, introduced by Egypt's 1952 revolution and subsequently adopted by Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Sudan — which is why those five flags are so easily mixed up. The emblem on the white band is what separates them, and Egypt's has changed three times: two green stars, then the Hawk of Quraish, then the Eagle of Saladin from 1984. Egypt and Syria flew an identical two-star flag as the United Arab Republic between 1958 and 1961, and Syria kept it for decades afterwards. The eagle is drawn facing the hoist.

Flags it gets confused with

Egypt

Field and colours only. Not shown: the golden Eagle of Saladin centred on the white band.

Sudan

Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.

Flag	How to tell them apart
Iraq	Iraq has the takbir in green Kufic script on the white band, not an eagle.
Yemen	Yemen has the same three bands with no emblem at all.
Sudan	Sudan adds a green triangle at the hoist.

What the colours mean

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What	What it stands for
Eagle of Saladin	A twelfth-century emblem, adopted as the symbol of Arab nationalism

Ratio: 2:3
Current design adopted: 1984
Colours: red, white, black

Common questions

What does the flag of Egypt look like?: Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and black, with the golden Eagle of Saladin centred on the white.
What do the colours of the Egypt flag mean?: Red: the period of struggle against occupation. White: the bloodless 1952 revolution. Black: the end of oppression.
How do you tell the Egypt flag from the Iraq one?: Iraq has the takbir in green Kufic script on the white band, not an eagle.
When was the Egypt flag adopted?: The current design dates from 1984, and its official ratio is 2:3.

Egypt Capital, area, population and currency
The flag of Iraq Routinely mistaken for this one
The flag of Sudan Routinely mistaken for this one
Every flag with red in it
The flag of United States Ratio 10:19
The flag of United Kingdom Ratio 1:2
The flag of Canada Ratio 1:2
The flag of France Ratio 2:3
The flag of China Ratio 2:3
The flag of Germany Ratio 3:5
The flag of Russia Ratio 2:3
The flag of Italy Ratio 2:3

Sources

The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))

How these figures are compiled and checked