S - Definition and Overview

S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet.

In most writing systems that use the Latin alphabet, the letter s corresponds to a coronal fricative consonant. Semitic Šîn (bow) was pronounced as the voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] (like the sound of the letters sh in ship). Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma (Σ) came to represent the voiceless alveolar fricative (like the sound of the letter s in sit). The name "sigma" probably comes from the Semitic letter "Sâmek" and not "Šîn". In Etruscan and Latin, the [s] value was maintained, and only in modern languages has the letter has been used to represent other sounds, such as voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] in Hungarian or the voiced alveolar fricative [z] in English, French and German (in English rise; in French lisez (="read" imperative plural); in German lesen (="to read").

An archaic 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 end of the 19th century, largely to prevent confusion with the minuscule f. The ligature of ſs became the German ess-tsett ( ß ).

Sierra represents the letter s in the NATO phonetic alphabet. The letter s represents the voiceless alveolar fricative in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Meanings for S

• In biochemistry, S is the symbol for serine.
• In calendars, S is often the abbreviation for Saturday or Sunday, or the month September. U is sometimes used for Sunday to avoid confusing it with Saturday.
• In chemistry,
  • S is the symbol for sulfur.
  • The S-block is a group of elements in the periodic table.
• In computing,
  • S may refer to the S programming language.
  • <s> is the HTML tag to mark the beginning of strike-through text.
• In education, S stands for a satisfactory grade.
• In financial securities, S is the stock symbol for Sears, Roebuck and Co.
• In international licence plate codes, S stands for Sweden.
• In mathematics,
  • S may represent a sum.
  • s often represents an arclength.
  • blackboard bold <math>\mathbb{S}<math> represents the sedenions.
  • S_n is the symmetric group of order n
• In the metric system,
  • S is the symbol for siemens, the SI derived unit for electric conductance.
  • s is the symbol for the second, the SI base unit for time.
• In physics,
  • S is the symbol for the unit Svedberg.
  • s is sometimes used to represent a position, distance or displacement function.
• As the first letter of a postal code,
  • In Canada, S stands for Saskatchewan.
  • In the United Kingdom, S stands for Sheffield.

Similar letters and symbols

• Ŝ, ŝ — S-circumflex
• Ş, ş — S-cedilla
• Š, š — S-caron
• Ș, ș — S with comma below (used in Romanian)
• ʂ — S with hook (used in the International Phonetic Alphabet for voiceless retroflex fricative)
• Ṡ, ṡ — S with dot above (used in old Irish Gaelic)
• Ṣ, ṣ — S with dot below (used in Indic transliteration)
• Ṥ, ṥ — S with acute and dot above
• Ṧ, ṧ — S with caron and dot above
• Ṩ, ṩ — S with dots below and above
• Ƨ, ƨ — reversed S (used in Zhuang transliteration)
• ſ — long s
• ʃ — Esh (used in the International Phonetic Alphabet for voiceless postalveolar fricative)
• ∫, ∫ — the integral sign
• $ — the dollar sign
• ß — the German Eszett or "sharp s"

See also

Two-letter combinations starting with S:

• sa sb sc sd se sf sg sh si sj sk sl sm sn so sp sq sr ss st su sv sw sx sy sz

Letter-digit combinations starting with S:

• S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

External link

• Wiktionary entry on S