S is the 19th letter of the German alphabet, representing a sibilant fricative, pronounced voiced /z/ in syllable onsets before vowels and voiceless /s/ in codas and clusters. In German Kurrent handwriting, it has a distinct historical ductus taught across German-speaking Europe until 1941.
Nothing to confuse it with.
- Printed
- S ſ
- Name
- S (s)
- Transliteration
- s
- IPA
- /z/, /s/
- Position
- 19 of 26
History
The letter S occupies the 19th position in the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents a sibilant fricative, pronounced voiced /z/ in syllable onsets before vowels and voiceless /s/ in codas and clusters.
German handwriting historically maintains two distinct lowercase forms of s: long s (ſ) and round s (s). Long s is written as a tall stroke extending into the ascender zone with a straight downstroke or lower loop, used at the start and middle of syllables (e.g. 'ſo', 'Waſſer'). Round s is written as a closed loop in the middle zone, used exclusively at syllable and word ends (e.g. 'Haus', 'des'). Capital S is a bold, sweeping double curve.
The dual-s rule was mandatory in German orthography until the abolition of Kurrent and Sütterlin in 1941. In compound words, a round s at the end of a morpheme ('Wachstube' from Wach-Stube vs 'Wachstube' from Wachs-Tube) resolved ambiguities that modern Latin print cannot distinguish.
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