sz (digraph)

Sz is a digraph of the Latin script, used in Polish, Kashubian, Hungarian and German, and in the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, as well as the Hong Kong official romanization of Cantonese.

Polish

In Polish orthography, sz represents a voiceless retroflex fricative . It usually corresponds to š or ш in other Slavic languages. It is usually approximated by English speakers with the "sh" sound (and conversely, Polish speakers typically approximate the English digraph ''sh'' with the "sz" sound), although the two sounds are not completely identical.

Like other Polish digraphs, it is not considered a single letter for collation purposes.

sz should not be confused with Å› (or s followed by i), termed "soft sh", a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative .

Examples of sz

(''area, territory'')

(''coat, cloak'')

(''Thomas'')

Compare Å›:

(''candle'')

(''to go'')

(''August'')

Kashubian

In Kashubian, sz represents a voiceless postalveolar fricative , identical to the English "sh" or a voiceless retroflex fricative as in Polish.

Examples

:These examples are Kashubian words that use the letter sz, with the English translation following.

*szãtopiérz = ''bat''
*szczawa = ''sorrel''
*szczãka = ''jaw''
*szczëka = ''pike (fish type)''
*szerszéń = ''hornet''

Hungarian

''Sz'' is the thirty-second letter of the Hungarian alphabet. It represents and is called "esz" . Thus, names like '' Liszt'' are pronounced ''list.''

In Hungarian, even if two characters are put together to make a different sound, they are considered one letter (a true digraph), and even acronyms keep the letter intact.

Hungarian usage of ''s'' and ''sz'' is almost the reverse of the Polish usage. In Hungarian, ''s'' represents (a sound similar to ). Therefore, the Hungarian capital of Budapest is natively pronounced (), rhyming with standard English ''fleshed'' rather than ''pest''.

There is also a zs in Hungarian, which is the last (forty-fourth) letter of the alphabet, following z.

Examples

These examples are Hungarian words that use the letter sz, with the English translation following:
*szabó = ''tailor''
*szép = ''beautiful''
*szikla = ''rock''
*szőke = ''blonde''
*szülő = ''parent''
*szusi = ''sushi''
*Olaszország = ''Italy''

German

In German, it was used to represent after "long" vowels, later contracting to the ß ligature.

Wade–Giles

In the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, is used to represent the syllabic with the "empty rime". See Wade–Giles → Empty rime.

See also

* Hungarian alphabet
* Polish alphabet
* ß, called S-Sharp

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sz (Digraph)
Latin-script digraphs