It is not always appreciated that
hieroglyphics were not in origin two-dimensional painted characters but three-dimensional
carved ones. By inspecting a carving with the 'ankh on it the nature of the sandal
strings is clear. The
phonetic basis of the
Egyptian script allowed the word for "sandal
thong" to be used also to mean "
life", which there is no obvious way of drawing, because they sounded the same or similar.
It is sometimes confused with another hieroglyph, a sun with three rays radiating from it. Again, the difference is clear if you inspect real examples.
The word begins with the consonant ayin.