AKH

in Egyptian religion, the spirit of a deceased person and, with the ka and ba (qq.v.), a principal aspect of the soul. By enabling the soul to assume temporarily any form it desired, for the purpose of revisiting the earth or for its own enjoyment, the akh characterized the soul of a deceased person as an effective entity in the next world. The akh-soul was generally represented as a bird and could appear to the living as a ghost.