Z, the German Kurrent letter z
Z is the 26th letter of the German alphabet, representing a voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/, a core sound of High German resulting from the High German consonant shift. In German Kurrent handwriting, it has a distinct historical ductus taught across German-speaking Europe until 1941.
In words
herzlich · warmly
zwei · two
History
The letter Z occupies the 26th position in the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents a voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/, a core sound of High German resulting from the High German consonant shift.
Lowercase z in Kurrent is a tailed letter (geschwänztes Z): it begins with a small wave-like stroke in the middle zone and plunges directly into a descender loop below the baseline. Capital Z is a large, dramatic letter featuring a horizontal top bar, a central diagonal stroke with a crossbar or loop, and a base flourish.
The letter z is essential in civil and parish records for 'Zeuge' (witness), 'Zivilstand' (civil status), 'Zeit' (time), and 'Zoll' (customs). Its descender loop clearly differentiates it from Latin cursive z.
Until Middle High German, z also wrote a hissing s-like sound that the High German consonant shift had made from t: daz, ez and ezzen against Low German dat, et and eten.[1] A long t, or a t starting a syllable, became instead a ts sound.[2] Z is the twentieth most frequent letter in German text, at about 1.1%.[3]
Sources
- [1] Z — Wikipedia (German) — MHG z for the shifted sound from t (daz, ez, ezzen) (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [2] Z — Wikipedia (German) — long or syllable-initial t became a ts sound (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [3] Z — Wikipedia (German) — 20th most frequent, 1.13% (accessed 2026-10-14)