Wiktionary

ß


ß U 00DF, ß
LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S
← Þ
[U 00DE] 		Latin-1 Supplement à →
[U 00E0]
See also: ẞ, β, 阝, B, Ss, ss, SS, and Appendix:Variations of "S"

Translingual

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Abbreviation of Latin sēmis (“half”)

Symbol

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ß

  1. (pharmacy) Apothecary symbol for half.
    • 1583, Philip Barrough [i.e., Philip Barrow], “Of Making Bolus”, in The Methode of Phisicke, Conteyning the Causes, Signes, and Cures of Inward Diseases in Mans Body from the Head to the Foote. […] (in English), London: […] Thomas Vautroullier […], →OCLC, book VI, page 288:
      BOlvs in Engliſh is called a morſell. It is a medicine laxatiue, in forme & faſhion it is meanely whole, & it is ſwallowed by litle gobbets. […] ℞. medulla caſiæ fiſtulæ newly drawen. ℥. j. or ʒ. x. the graines (that is the kernelles) of barbaries. ℈. ß. and with ſugar roſet [sugar compounded with rose petals] make a bole.

English

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Symbol

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ß

  1. Occasionally used in loanwords from German.
    You're full of scheiße!
  2. (obsolete, rare) A ligature representing <ss> in italic text.

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Further reading

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  • “During what period of history did English use "ß", the "sharp s" ligature?”, in Stack Exchange‎[1], 2013 January 2, archived from the original on 2021-05-07

Central Franconian

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Etymology

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  • /s/ is from West Germanic post-vocalic *t and *ss.

Pronunciation

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  • /s/

Letter

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ß

  1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

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  • Doubling of ß yields ss, see S.
  • In the Dutch-based spelling, /s/ is always represented by s.

German

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Origins of ß.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /s/
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ɛsˈtsɛt/ (Eszett, usual)
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ˈʃarfəs ˈɛs/ (scharfes S, less desirable because it also refers to the sound /s/ regardless of its spelling)

Letter

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ß (lower case, upper case ẞ)

  1. Eszett (“sz”) or scharfes S, a German letter based on a ligature of ſ (long s) and z.

Usage notes

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In alphabetic ordering, ß is equivalent to the string ss. For example, one would order: Maske, Maß, Masse, Maße, Massen, Maßen, Mast. The letter also alternates with ss in inflections and derivatives, e.g. lassen → past tense ließ, though such cases are now fairly rare.

The current rules for the choice between ß and ss were introduced in 1996. They follow the simple principle that ss is used after short vowels and ß otherwise (i.e. after long vowels and diphthongs). Hence Masse /ˈmasə/ is distinguished from Maße /ˈmaːsə/. The earlier rules were more complicated and less phonetic. They prescribed that ß was additionally used in the syllable coda regardless of vowel length. Thus küssen, but er küßt, and Faß, but Fässer (modern spelling küsst, Fass). The older spelling has become rare, but is still used by some older language users.

In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the letter ß is not used at all. So Straße is spelt Strasse, and the above distinction between Maße and Masse is lost in favour of the latter. This use is also often seen in Luxembourg and occasionally in South Tyrol, but ß is standard in both of these areas. Moreover one encounters the same spelling in German books printed in antiqua script until the early 20th century, because an antiqua ß did not yet exist. A rarer alternative was to replace ß with sz.

It is standard to replace ß with SS in all caps: STRASSE. However, in 2017 a new uppercase ẞ was introduced, so it is now also correct to spell STRAẞE. The use of a lowercase ß (STRAßE) is sometimes seen, but is proscribed. In capitalizing a few words which would become ambiguous if ß were changed to SS, SZ may be used instead, hence MASZE (Maße) may be kept distinct from MASSE (Masse), BUSZE (Buße) from BUSSE (Busse).

Synonyms

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Further reading

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Lower Sorbian

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Letter

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ß

  1. (obsolete) A letter formerly used to represent the sound /s/, now replaced by s.

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Swedish

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The name RIEßLER with ß on a Finnish and Swedish bilingual ID card issued in Finland.

Symbol

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ß

  1. (obsolete, rare) A ligature representing <ss>.

Usage notes

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  • Became increasingly scarce by the late 18th century, but could still be found in certain blackletter newspapers up until the late 19th century.
  • Also know as dubbel-s (“double S”) and tyskt s (“German S”).

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