ba

The word “ba” means in ancient Egyptian belief, a part of the soul, often shown as a bird with a human head, that lived on after death. In plain terms, a term from Egyptian mythology for one aspect of a person's soul.

“Ba” is pronounced pah ([p˭ɑ˨] in IPA).

Here is “ba” used in a sentence: “Egyptian tomb paintings often depict the ba hovering near the body.”

“Ba” is a noun.

“Ba” is a fairly common word in modern English.

In ancient Egyptian belief the ba and the ka were both regarded as parts of a person's soul. The ba is the element usually depicted as a bird with a human head that lived on after death, and it is traditionally distinguished from the ka, another part of the soul.

The bird form is generally understood to represent the part of the soul that could move freely and survive after death, while the human head keeps the figure recognisable as the individual it belonged to. This imagery reflects the ba's role as the aspect of the person believed to live on.

'Ba' is normally written in lowercase as an ordinary noun when discussing Egyptian belief, as in 'the ba of the deceased.' It is capitalised only at the start of a sentence or within a title.