S

In most writing systems that use the Latin alphabet, as well as the International Phonetic Alphabet, the letter corresponds to a voiceless alveolar sibilant.

Related Topics:
International Phonetic Alphabet - Voiceless alveolar sibilant

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Semitic Šîn (?im? sun/uraeus) was pronounced as the voiceless postalveolar fricative {{IPA|}} (like the sound of the letters sh in ship). Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma (Σ) came to represent {{IPA|}}. The name "sigma" probably comes from the Semitic letter "Sâmek" (fish; spine) and not "Šîn". In Etruscan and Latin, the {{IPA|}} value was maintained, and only in modern languages has the letter been used to represent other sounds, such as voiceless postalveolar fricative {{IPA|}} in Hungarian or the voiced alveolar fricative {{IPA|}} in English, French and German (in English rise; in French lisez (="read" imperative plural); in German lesen (="to read").

Related Topics:
Semitic - Šîn - Uraeus - Voiceless postalveolar fricative - Greek - Sigma - Etruscan - Latin - Hungarian - Voiced alveolar fricative - French - German

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An alternative form of s, ſ, called the long s or medial s, was used at the beginning or in the middle of the word; the modern form, the short or terminal s, was used at the end of the word. For example, "sinfulness" is rendered as "ſinfulneſs" using the long s. The use of the long s died out by the beginning of the 19th century, largely to prevent confusion with the minuscule f. The ligature of ſs (or ſz) became the German ess-tsett ( ß ).

Related Topics:
Long ''s'' - 19th century - Minuscule - F - German - Ess-tsett

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Sierra represents the letter s in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

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