ankh
/æŋk/
"ankh" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ankh” is an uncommon English word, ranked #61,267 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #61,267
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cross shaped like a T with a loop at the top, the Egyptian hieroglyph representing the Egyptian triliteral ꜥnḫ (“life”) and often used as an amulet or charm for this concept.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ankh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /æŋk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #61,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ankh” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ankh is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /æŋk/. Corpus data places it at rank #61,267 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for ankh in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Egyptian anx-Z1 (ꜥnḫ, “life, to live, symbol for life”). The correct English form is ankh, spelled A-N-K-H.
Definition
- 1A cross shaped like a T with a loop at the top, the Egyptian hieroglyph representing the Egyptian triliteral ꜥnḫ (“life”) and often used as an amulet or charm for this concept.
- 2A tau cross.
Etymology
From Egyptian anx-Z1 (ꜥnḫ, “life, to live, symbol for life”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ankh”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-K-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /æŋk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.