ß facts for kids
The letter ß (also known as sharp S, German: Eszett or scharfes S) is a letter in the German alphabet. It is the only German letter that is not part of the basic Latin alphabet. The letter is pronounced (like the "s" in "see"). The ß character is not used in any other languages.
Contents
Origin
The letter ß in today's form was created around the 1900s.. The letter came from the long s (ſ) and the normal 'z' which when handwritten, over time, joined together to form a single glyph.
Spelling
The ß is only used in the German language. It appears only in the middle or at the end of German words. The uppercase ß (ẞ) exists only for typesetting, such as in a dictionary. Instead of lowercase ß one can also write ss. As no words start with double s or ß, no replacing occurs for the uppercase ß.
However, not every ss can be written as ß. The German language often puts two or more words together to make a longer word. If the new word has two s's together they cannot be written as ß. For example, Voßstraße is two words joined together (Voß and straße). It can also be written as Vossstraße but never as Vosßtraße because "sstraße" (or ßtraße) is not a word, and the ß is in the word "Voss" (Voß).
The rules for German orthography have changed since 1996. Many common words that used to be written with ß are now written with ss. For example, Fluß (river) is now spelled Fluss. The double ss is used when the preceding vowel is short, as in Fluss. The sharp s is used when the preceding vowel is long as in the word Straße.
Images for kids
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Replacement street sign in Aachen, adapted to the 1996 spelling reform (old: Kongreßstraße, new: Kongressstraße)
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Capitalization as SZ on a Bundeswehr crate (ABSCHUSZGERAET for Abschußgerät 'launcher')
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Use of ß in Polish language, in 1599 Jakub Wujek Bible, in the word náßéy, which means our, and would be spelled naszej in modern orthography.
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Use of Middle High German letter “z” for modern “ß” in the beginning of the Nibelungenlied: "grozer" = "großer".
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An early modern printed rhyme by Hans Sachs showing several instances of ß as a clear ligature of ⟨ſz⟩: "groß", "stoß", "Laß", "baß" (= modern "besser"), and "Faß".
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Essen with ſs-ligature reads Eßen (Latin Blaeu atlas, text printed in Antiqua, 1650s)
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The ß key (as well as Ä, Ö, and Ü) on a 1964 German typewriter
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Antiqua form of the ſʒ ligature (Berlin street signs)
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Blackletter form of the ſʒ ligature (Erfurt street signs)
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Sulzbacher form (Nürnberg street signs)
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Two distinct blackletter typefaces in Mainz. The red sign spells Straße with ſs; the blue sign uses the standard blackletter ſʒ ligature.
See also
In Spanish: ß para niños