Editing SS (section)

{{short description|Letter of the Latin alphabet; used in German}}
{{Lowercase title}}
{{about|the German eszett|the Greek letter that looks similar|Beta|the Chinese radical|阝|the Malayalam script|Bha (Indic) #Malayalam Bha}}
{{Distinguish|text = [[B]]}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name=ẞ
|letter=ẞ ß
|variations=
|image=File:Latin letter eszett.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
|imagesize=200px
|script=[[Latin script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|typedesc=ic
|language=[[Early New High German]]
|phonemes=[{{IPAlink|s}}]
|unicode=U+1E9E,&nbsp;U+00DF
|alphanumber=
|number=
|fam1=<hiero>M40 , Z4</hiero>
|fam2=[[File:Proto-semiticS-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Sinaitic Shin]], [[File:Proto-semiticZ-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Sinaitic Zayin]]
|fam3=[[File:Phoenician_sin.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician Sin]], [[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician Zayin]]
|fam4=[[Sigma|ς]], [[Zeta|ζ]]
|fam5=[[𐌔]], [[𐌆]]
|fam6=[[s]][[z]]
|fam7=[[long s|ſ]][[ezh |ʒ]]
|usageperiod=~1300s to present
|children=None
|sisters=None
|equivalents=ss, sz
|associates=[[List of Latin-script digraphs#S|ss, sz]]
|direction=Left-to-right
}}
<div class='skin-invert-image'>{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=250
| image1 =  S-sharp-s-Cambria.svg |width1=125|height1= 
| image2 =  S-sharp-s-Lucida-Sans.svg |width2=125|height2= 
| image3 = Theuerdank szlig.png  |width3=70|height3= 
| image4 =  Kurrent ß.svg |width4=100|height4= 
| footer = Variant forms of ''Eszett'' (from top-left to bottom-right): [[Cambria (typeface)|Cambria]] (2004), [[Lucida Sans]] (1985), [[Theuerdank#Theuerdank font|Theuerdank]] blackletter (1933, based on a 1517 type), handwritten [[Kurrent]] (1865)
}}</div>

In [[German orthography]], the letter '''ß''', called '''{{lang|de|Eszett}}''' ({{IPA|de|ɛsˈtsɛt|IPA}}, S-Z) or '''{{lang|de|scharfes S}}''' ({{IPA|de|ˌʃaʁfəs ˈʔɛs|IPA}}, "sharp S"), represents the {{IPAslink|s}} phoneme in [[Standard German]] when following [[long vowel]]s and [[diphthong]]s. The letter-name {{wikt-lang|de|Eszett}} combines the [[names of the letters]] of {{angbr|s}} ({{lang|de|Es}}) and {{angbr|z}} ({{lang|de|Zett}}) in German. The character's [[Unicode]] names in English are '''double s''',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lingoda.com/blog/en/german-double-s-eszett/|title=German double s and eszett|publisher=Lingoda|author=Sandra Köktas|date=20 September 2022 |language=English|accessdate=7 October 2024}}</ref> '''sharp s'''<ref name="Unicode_00DF">{{Citation |author=Unicode Consortium |author-link=Unicode Consortium |year=2018 |title=C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement, Range 0080–00FF |work=The Unicode Standard, Version 11.0 |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf |access-date=2018-08-09 |postscript=.}}</ref> and '''eszett'''.<ref name="Unicode_00DF" /> The ''Eszett'' letter is currently used only in [[German language|German]], and can be typographically replaced with the double-s digraph {{angbr|ss}} if the ß-character is unavailable. In the 20th century, the ß-character was replaced with ''ss'' in the spelling of [[Swiss Standard German]] (Switzerland and [[Liechtenstein]]), while remaining [[Standard German]] spelling in other varieties of the German language.<ref name="Swiss">[http://www.so.ch/fileadmin/internet/dbk/evkaa/Infos/Unterricht/Rechtschreibung_Leitfaden.pdf Leitfaden zur deutschen Rechtschreibung ("Guide to German Orthography")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708004012/http://www.so.ch/fileadmin/internet/dbk/evkaa/Infos/Unterricht/Rechtschreibung_Leitfaden.pdf |date=2012-07-08 }}, 3rd edition (2007) {{in lang|de}} from the [[Swiss Federal Chancellery]], retrieved 22-Apr-2012</ref>

The letter originated as the {{angbr|[[sz (digraph)|sz]]}} [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] used in [[Early New High German|late medieval and early modern German]] orthography, represented as a [[typographic ligature|ligature]] of {{angbr|ſ}} ([[long s]]) and {{angbr|ʒ}} ([[Z#Variant and derived forms|tailed z]]) in [[blackletter]] typefaces, yielding {{angbr|ſʒ}}.{{efn|The IPA symbol [[ezh]] (ʒ) somewhat resembles the Blackletter z (<math>\mathfrak{z}</math>) and is used in this article for convenience despite its technical inaccuracy. The preferred form of transcription by Unicode is the "hooked z" ([[ȥ]]), a toned-down version of the tailed z in 19th-century printed texts.}} This developed from an earlier usage of {{angbr|z}} in [[Old High German|Old]] and [[Middle High German]] to represent a [[sibilant]] that did not sound the same as {{angbr|s}}; when the difference between the two sounds was lost in the 13th century, the two symbols came to be combined as {{angbr|sz}} in some situations.

Traditionally, {{angbr|ß}} did not have a capital form, although some [[type design]]ers introduced ''de facto'' capitalized variants. In 2017, the [[Council for German Orthography]] officially adopted a capital, {{angbr|ẞ}}, as an acceptable variant in German orthography, ending a long orthographic debate.<ref name="Long debate">{{cite web|url=https://qz.com/1033265/germanys-century-long-debate-over-a-missing-letter-in-its-alphabet|title=Germany has ended a century-long debate over a missing letter in its alphabet|last=Ha|first=Thu-Huong|date=20 July 2017 |language=English|access-date=9 August 2017|quote=According to the council's 2017 spelling manual: When writing the uppercase [of ß], write SS. It’s also possible to use the uppercase ẞ. Example: Straße — STRASSE — STRAẞE.}}</ref>
Since 2024 the capital {{angbr|ẞ}} (ligature) has been preferred over {{angbr|SS}} (two letters).<ref name="Amtliches Regelwerk">{{Cite web |access-date=28 August 2024 |url=https://www.rechtschreibrat.com/DOX/RfdR_Amtliches-Regelwerk_2024.pdf |title=Amtliches Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung. Auf der Grundlage des Beschlusses des Rats für deutsche Rechtschreibung vom 15.12.2023 |at=§25, E3 |quote={{lang|de|E3: Bei Schreibung mit Großbuchstaben ist neben der Verwendung des Großbuchstabens ẞ auch die Schreibung SS möglich: Straße – STRAẞE – STRASSE.}} [When writing with capital letters, in addition to using the capital letter ẞ, the spelling SS is also possible. Example: Straße – STRAẞE – STRASSE.]}}</ref>

Lowercase {{angbr|ß}} was [[codepoint|encoded]] by [[ECMA-94]] (1985) at position 223 (hexadecimal DF), inherited by [[Latin-1]] and [[Unicode]] ({{unichar|00DF|Latin small letter sharp s}}).<ref>[http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement] glossed 'uppercase is "SS" or 1E9E '''ẞ'''; typographically the glyph for this character can be based on a ligature of 017F '''ſ''', with either 0073 '''s''' or with an old-style glyph for 007A '''z''' (the latter similar in appearance to 0292 '''ʒ'''). Both forms exist interchangeably today.'</ref>
The [[List of XML and HTML character entity references|HTML entity]]  <code>&amp;szlig;</code> was introduced with [[HTML|HTML 2.0]] (1995). The capital {{angbr|ẞ}} was encoded by Unicode in 2008 at ({{unichar|1E9E|Latin Capital Letter Sharp S}}).