S

In the German alphabet, the (traditionally lowercase-only) letter ß, called Eszett (IPA: [ɛsˈtsɛt]) or scharfes S (IPA: [ˈʃaɐ̯.fəs ˈʔɛs], [ˈʃaː.fəs ˈʔɛs]), in English "sharp S", is a consonant that evolved as a ligature of "long s and z" (ſz) and "long s over round s" (ſs). It is pronounced [s] (see IPA). Since the German orthography reform of 1996, it is used only after long vowels and diphthongs while ss is written after short vowels. The name Eszett comes from the two letters S and Z as they are pronounced in German. Its Unicode encoding is U+00DF.

While the letter ß has been used in other languages, it is now only used in German. It is not used in Switzerland or Liechtenstein. German speakers in Germany, Austria, Belgium,Denmark,Luxembourg,South Tyrol and Namibia follow the standard rules for ß.