S

For the origin of the letter, see s. Orthography and pronunciation Single s in prevocalic position is pronounced /z/, except when it follows an obstruent within the word stem (e.g. Achse, bugsieren, Lotse, schubsen). /s/ is usually retained in recent borrowings from English (e.g. Sex), to a lesser degree also in recent borrowings from other languages (e.g. Salsa). Words from the classical languages and pre-1900 loanwords behave like native words. Stem-initial st and sp are pronounced /ʃt/ and /ʃp/ in native words. The same is generally true for classical and pre-1900 loanwords, though in this case we find some exceptions which are at least optionally pronounced with /st/, /sp/ (e.g. Stil, Stola). Recent borrowings tend to retain the original sounds. Again, this tendency is stronger with English than with other source languages (cf. e.g. Spaghetti with /ʃp/). The trigraph sch is pronounced /ʃ/, except when there is an intervening morpheme boundary, which normally happens only with the diminutive suffix -chen (cf. e.g. Häuschen). Otherwise, pre-consonantal and word-final s is always pronounced /s/. This also includes st, sp when they are not stem-initial. The same is generally true for doubled ss. There are, however, a few words in which ss may – optionally – be pronounced /z/ (e.g. Fussel, Massel, quasseln, Schussel). For the orthographic choice between ss and ß, see the latter.

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