ſ
ſ - Translingual
Letter
ſ (upper case S)
Derived terms
ſ - English
Letter
ſ (lower case, upper case S, plural ſs or ſ's)
- (archaic) The nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, called long s, medial s, or descending s and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes
- This is the long, medial, or descending s, as distinct from the short or terminal s (s).
- In Roman and Fraktur script, the long S was typically used everywhere except at the end of words, where the short S was used. This distinction was sometimes maintained in derivative or compound words, as for example hisſelf (his + (-)ſelf), ſucceſsful (ſucceſs + -ful), princeſsſhip (see the 1767 quotation).
- Some documents wrote or typeset ss as ſs, e.g. in neceſsary, either as a deviation from all nonfinal s being ſ, or as a deviation from all s being s (as in the US Declaration of Independence: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes neceſsary for one people to diſsolve...", or US Constitution: "the first Claſs shall...").
- This distinction occurred only in minuscule (lowercase); the single majuscule (uppercase) form S was used regardless of word-position.
- Sometimes “st” was used instead of “ſt”.
ſ - Middle French
Letter
ſ
- typographical variant of s, typically used for all instances except a final -s