Editing Ankh (section)

==Use in writing==
{{Hiero
|1= ''Ꜥnḫ''
|2= <hiero>S34-n:Aa1 -.- or -.- S34</hiero>{{sfn|Allen|2014|p=30}}
|align=right
|era=egypt
}}
In [[ancient Egypt]]ian [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphic writing]], the ankh was a triliteral sign: one that represented a sequence of three [[consonant]] sounds. The ankh stood for the sequence ''Ꜥ-n-ḫ'', where ''n'' is pronounced like the English letter ''n'', ''Ꜥ'' is a [[voiced pharyngeal fricative]], and ''ḫ'' is a [[voiceless velar fricative|voiceless]] or [[voiced velar fricative]] (sounds not found in English).{{sfn|Allen|2014|pp=18–19, 30}} In the [[Egyptian language]], these consonants were found in the verb meaning "live", the noun meaning "life", and words derived from them, such as ''sꜤnḫ'', which means "cause to live" or "nourish";{{sfn|Allen|2014|p=30}} ''Ꜥnḫ'' evolved into ⲱⲛϩ (''onh'') in the [[Coptic language|Coptic]] stage of the language.{{sfn|Gardiner|1915|p=20}} The sign is known in English as the "ankh", based on the hypothetical pronunciation of the Egyptian word, or as the "key of life", based on its meaning.{{sfn|Gardiner|1915|pp=20–21}}

One of the common uses of the word ''Ꜥnḫ'' was to express a wish that a particular person live. For example, a phrase meaning something like "may you be healthy and alive" was used in polite contexts, similar to the English phrase "if you please", and the phrase ''[[ankh wedja seneb|Ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb]]'', meaning "alive, sound, and healthy", was used as an [[honorific]] for the [[pharaoh]] when he was mentioned in writing. The Egyptian word for "oath" was also ''Ꜥnḫ'', because oaths in ancient Egypt began with a form of the word "live".{{sfn|Allen|2014|pp=34, 317–318}}

The same consonants were found in the word for "mirror" and the word for a floral bouquet, so the sign was also used in writing these words.{{sfn|Wilkinson|1992|p=177}} The three consonants also compose the word for a looped rope-like object found in illustrations on many coffins from the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]]{{sfn|Gardiner|1915|pp=20–21}} (c. 2050–1650 BC).{{sfn|Wilkinson|1992|p=13}} The [[Egyptology|Egyptologists]] [[Battiscombe Gunn]] and [[Alan Gardiner]], in the early 20th century, believed these objects to be [[sandal]] straps, given that they appear in pairs at the foot of the coffin and the accompanying texts say the objects are "on the ground under his feet".{{sfn|Gardiner|1915|pp=20–21}}