Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

S

S

(ĕs)
,
the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a consonant, and is often called a sibilant, in allusion to its hissing sound. It has two principal sounds; one a mere hissing, as in sack, this; the other a vocal hissing (the same as that of z), as in is, wise. Besides these it sometimes has the sounds of sh and zh, as in sure, measure. It generally has its hissing sound at the beginning of words, but in the middle and at the end of words its sound is determined by usage. In a few words it is silent, as in isle, débris. With the letter h it forms the digraph sh. See Guide to pronunciation, §§ 255-261.
Both the form and the name of the letter S are derived from the Latin, which got the letter through the Greek from the Phoenician. The ultimate origin is Egyptian. S is etymologically most nearly related to c, z, t, and r; as, in ice, OE. is; E. hence, OE. hennes; E. rase, raze; erase, razor; that, G. das; E. reason, F. raison, L. ratio; E. was, were; chair, chaise (see C, Z, T, and R.).

Webster 1828 Edition

S

S

, the nineteenth letter of the English Alphabet, is a sibilant articulation, and numbered among the semi-vowels. It represents the hissing made by driving the breath between the end of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, just above the upper teeth. It has two uses; one to express a mere hissing, as in Sabbath, sack, sin, this, thus; the other a vocal hissing, precisely like that of z, as in muse, wise, pronounced muze, wize. It generally has its hissing sound at the beginning of all proper English words, but in the middle and end of words, its sound is to be known only by usage. In a few words it is silent, as in isle and viscount.
In abbreviations, S. stands for societas, society, or socius, fellow; as F.R.S. fellow of the Royal Society. In medical prescriptions, S.A. signifies secundem artem, according to the rules of art.
In the notes of the ancients, S. stands for Sextus; SP. for Spurius; S.C. for senatus consultum; S.P.Q.R. for senatus populusque Romanus; S.S.S. for stratum super stratum, one layer above another alternately; S.V.B.E.E.Q.V. for sivales, bene est, ego quoque valeo.
As a numeral, S. denoted seven. In the Italian music, S. signifies solo. In books of navigation and in common usage, S. stands for south; S.E. for south-east; S.W. for south-west; S.S.E. for south south-east; S.S.W. for south south-west, &c.

Definition 2024

S

S


S U+0053, S
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S
← R
[U+0052] 		Basic Latin T →
[U+0054]
See also: s, 's, -s, ѕ, Ѕ, Տ, Ꮪ, and Appendix:Variations of "s"

Translingual

Letter

S upper case

  1. The nineteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

See also

Symbol

S

  1. (chemistry) symbol for sulfur / sulphur
  2. (metrology) symbol for siemens, a measure of electrical conductance.
  3. (metrology) symbol for spat (obsolete astronomical unit of distance).
  4. (metrology) symbol for svedberg (unit of sedimentation rate in ultracentrifugation).
  5. (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for serine
  6. (geology) symbol for storativity
  7. (mathematics, topology) sphere
  8. (mathematics, computer science) The S ("substitution") combinator, defined as Sxyz = xz(yz), used in SKI calculus

See also

Other representations of S:

English

Pronunciation

  • (letter) IPA(key): /ɛs/
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /s/, /z/, /ʒ/

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s, plural Ss or S's)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, called ess and written in the Latin script.
See also

Number

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The ordinal number nineteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called ess and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Noun

S ‎(plural Ss)

  1. American Library Association. Abbreviation for sextodecimo, a book size, 15-17.5 cm in height.
  2. south
  3. Abbreviation of season. (group of episodes of a series)
    I watched S01 through 03. I have yet to watch the S04.
    The pilot episode is S01E01.

American Sign Language

Letter

‎(Stokoe S)

  1. The letter S

Azeri

Letter

S upper case (lower case s)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ɛs/

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Esperanto

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twenty-second letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called so and written in the Latin script.

See also

Abbreviation

S

  1. Abbreviation of sudo ‎(“south”).
  2. (text messaging) Abbreviation of ŝi ‎(“she”).

Alternative forms

  • (she): Ŝ

Finnish

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called äs or es and written in the Latin script.

See also

French

Pronunciation

  • (letter) IPA(key): /ɛs/
  • Rhymes: -ɛs

Abbreviation

S

  1. Abbreviation of sud; south.

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

  • Template:list:Latin script letters/fr

Galician

Abbreviation

S

  1. sur (south)

Antonyms

  • (south): N

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔɛs/
  • Homophone: es

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case ſ)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the German alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Abbreviation

S

  1. Abbreviation of Süd; south

German Sign Language

Etymology

Related to the French Sign Language sign for "S".

Production

This one-handed GSL sign is produced as follows:

  • Posture the dominant hand in the “S” shape.

Letter

  1. the letter S

Ido

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /s/

Letter

S ‎(lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Italian

Pronunciation

  • (name of letter) IPA(key): /ˈɛsse/
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /s/, /z/
  • (phoneme, when followed by a voiceless consonant) IPA(key): /s/
  • (phoneme, when followed by a voiced consonant) IPA(key): /z/

Letter

S m, f ‎(invariable, lower case s)

  1. The seventeenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called esse and written in the Latin script.

See also

Latvian

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [s]

Letter

S

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called es and written in the Latin script.

See also

Malay

Pronunciation

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [ɛs]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [s]

Letter

S

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Portuguese

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /se/, /es/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /s/

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Romanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Saanich

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /s/

Letter

S

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /s/

Letter

S ‎(lower case s)

  1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Slovene

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

Somali

Pronunciation

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /s/
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /sæ/

Letter

S upper case (lower case s)

  1. The ninth letter of the Somali alphabet, called sa and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

  1. The ninth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by R and followed by SH.

See also

Spanish

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twentieth letter of the Spanish alphabet, called es and written in the Latin script.

Abbreviation

S

  1. Abbreviation of sur; south

Turkish

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twenty-second letter of the Turkish alphabet, called se and written in the Latin script.

See also

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɛʔt̚˧ˀ˦/, /ʔɛʔt̚˧ˀ˦ s̪i˨˩/, /s̪əːɰ˨˩/, /s̪əːɰ˨˩ nɐŋ˧ˀ˨ʔ]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɛʔt̚˦˥/, /ʔɛʔt̚˦˥ s̪ɪj˧˧/, /ʂəːɰ˧˧/, /ʂəːɰ˧˧ nɐŋ˨ˀ˨ʔ]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʔɛʔk̚˦ˀ˥/, /ʔɛʔk̚˦ˀ˥ s̪ɪj˨˩/, /ʂəːɰ˨˩/, /ʂəːɰ˨˩ nɐŋ˨ˀ˧ʔ]
  • Phonetic: ét, ét xì, sờ, sờ nặng

Letter

S ‎(upper case, lower case s)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called ét, ét-xì, sờ or sờ nặng and written in the Latin script.

See also

ſ

ſ

ſ U+017F, ſ
LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S
← ž
[U+017E] 		Latin Extended-A ƀ →
[U+0180]
See also: ⌠ [U+2320 TOP HALF INTEGRAL], ∫ [U+222B INTEGRAL], ʃ [U+0283 LATIN SMALL LETTER ESH], ẛ, and Appendix:Variations of "s"

Translingual

Proper use of the long s is demonstrated by the words Bürgerſaal and Ratsſäle on a German sign, but incorrect use can be seen in the third word, Trausaal, causing it to be parsed as ‘Trausaal’.

Letter

ſ lower case

  1. (obsolete or archaic) The long s, a form of the letter ess (S).
    • Examples of use in English:
      • 1785, Vicesimus Knox, Liberal Education: Or, a Practical Treatiſe on the Methods of Acquiring Uſeful and Polite Learning, vol. II, pp. 1 & 3, section XXXI: On the regulation of puerile diverſions:
        Many fanciful methods have been invented by thoſe who wiſhed to render puerile ſports conducive to improvement. I never found that they were ſucceſsful.
        I muſt own myſelf an advocate for puerile liberty*, during the alloted hours of relaxation. Boys have much reſtraint and confinement in the time of ſtudy.
        Thoſe of the effeminate kind ſuperinduce effeminacy; weakneſs of mind, no leſs than imbecility of body. Something ſimilar happens in puerile diverſions. The boy who has been kept in leading-ſtrings too long, and reſtrained from hardy ſports by the fondneſs of his mother, will ſcarcely ever become a man; or poſſeſs that becoming ſpirit which can enable him to act his part with propriety.
      • 1796, John Hatsell, Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons: With Observations, page 102:
        75. On the 11th of May, 1759, the Lords amend a turnpike road Bill, by inſerting a clauſe, “That no gate ſhall be erected within a mile of Enſham Ferry”. The conſideration of this amendment is reſolved, nemine contradicente, to be put off for a month.

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

English

Letter

ſ ‎(lower case, upper case S, plural ſ's)

  1. (archaic) long s The nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, called long s, medial s or descending s and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The long, medial, or descending s, as distinct from the short or terminal s. In Roman script, the long S was used everywhere except at the end of words, where the short S was used, and frequently in what is now the digraph <ss>, which was often written <ſs> rather than <ſſ>. The distinction occurred only in minuscule (lowercase); a single majuscule (uppercase) form, S, was used regardless of word-position. In Fraktur script, the long S is used at the beginning of a word as well, as long as the word is not capitalized.

Middle French

Letter

ſ

  1. typographical variant of s, typically used for all instances except a final -s

Etymology

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