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Graphemes for /s/ and Related Phonemes

/s/ - voiceless alveolar fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
apd-Latn <s> samak ‘fish’
ar-Arab <س> مستشفى ‘hospital’
ast-Latn <s> sosu ‘tasteless’
bcy-Latn <s> sake ‘dog’
bec-Latn <s> saŋgɛ ‘write’, isi ‘eye’, ɛkas ‘sifter’
blt-Tavt <> ꪎꪲ꪿ ‘four’low tone series (syll. init.)
blt-Tavt <> ꪏꪳ꫁ ‘to buy’high tone series (syll. init.)
de-Latn <chs> Wachs ‘wax’
de-Latn <ss> Wasser ‘water’
de-Latn <s> das ‘the’, anders ‘different’Syllable-final
de-Latn <ß> Straße ‘street’Post 1996 spelling reform, ‹ß› at send of syllables and before consonants is usually changed to ‹ss
dv-Thaa <އ◌ް> މައްސަލަOccurs before ‹ސ› to indicate a geminate.
dv-Thaa <ސ> ސުކުން
en-Latn <c> centBefore e and i
en-Latn <ps> psychology
en-Latn <s> sand
es-Latn <c> ciento ‘hundred’‹c› can be used for /s/ before e and i (Latin American only)
es-Latn <s> sin ‘without’
es-Latn <x> texto ‘text’
es-Latn <z> zapato ‘shoe’Latin American only
fub-Arab <س> سٜي ‘happy’, کِسْندَمْ ‘salvation’, نٛوغَسْ ‘twenty’, سَ! ‘Wow!’
fub-Latn <s> seyo ‘happy’, kisndam ‘salvation’, noogas ‘twenty’, Sa! ‘Wow!’
ha-Latn <s> sata ‘to steal’
id-Latn <s> sisir ‘comb’
ii-Latn <s> si ‘choose’
lbw-Latn <s> sala ‘path’, aso ‘one’
nat-Latn <s> sata ‘five’, a̱sa̱la̱ ‘rain’
ne-Deva <> सेतो ‘white’
png-Latn <s> sakaru, sabu
srr-Arab <س> سࣹدْ ‘to be ashamed’, فُسْ ‘pustule’
srr-Latn <s> sed ‘to be ashamed’, fus ‘pustule’
wo-Arab <س> سُوفْ ‘ground’
wo-Latn <s> suuf ‘ground’
xnz-Copt <> Obsolete
xnz-Copt <>
xnz-Latn <s>

/sʷ/ - labialized voiceless alveolar fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
bec-Latn <sw> sweŋ ‘silent’, ɔswaŋɛ ‘compound’
png-Latn <sw> swa, ta̱swee

/sˤ/ - pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
apd-Latn <> ᶊaabuun ‘soap’Persson orthography
apd-Latn <> ṣaabuun ‘soap’Hillelson orthography
ar-Arab <ص> صورته ‘his picture’
dv-Thaa <އ◌ް> ޚާއްޞަOnly in words of foreign origin; occurs before ‹ޞ› to indicate a geminate.
dv-Thaa <ޞ> މަޤްޞަދުA letter devised to transliterate Arabic ‹ص›. Occurring only in loanwords, it may be pronounced simply as /s/.
fub-Arab <ص> صَوْتُ ‘voice’, مِصْرَ ‘Egypt’borrowed words only
fub-Latn <s> sawtu ‘voice’, Misra ‘Egypt’borrowed words only

/sː/ - geminate voiceless alveolar fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
ar-Arab <س◌ّ> السّودان Sudan’
fub-Arab <س◌ّ> ڢَسِّتِرِ

/θ/ - voiceless dental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
ar-Arab <ث> ثالث ‘third’, ثلاثة ‘three’
ast-Latn <c> poces ‘holes’'c' can be used for [θ] before i and e
dv-Thaa <އ◌ް> ޙައްޘިއްޔަތުOnly in words of foreign origin; occurs before ‹ޘ› to indicate a geminate.
dv-Thaa <ޘ> ޘާނަވީA letter devised to transliterate Arabic ‹ث›. Occurs only in words of foreign origin.
en-Latn <th> thin
es-Latn <c> ciento ‘hundred’‹c› can be used for /θ/ before e and i (Iberian only)
es-Latn <z> zapato ‘shoe’/θ/ occurs in Iberian only
fub-Arab <ث> مِثَالُ ‘example’borrowed words only
fub-Latn <c> ceede ‘money’, accugo ‘to let’, hacci ‘smells bad’, mi hooci ‘I took’dialect variants in pronunciation
fub-Latn <th> mithaalu ‘example’borrowed words only
ru-Cyrl <з> ска́зка ‘fairy tale’, глаз ‘eye’Preceding a voiceless consonant or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <с> соба́ка ‘dog’Preceding either ‹а, о, э, у, ы›, a voiceless consonant, or ‹л, м, н, р, в›, or if word-final

/θʲ/ - palatalized voiceless dental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
ru-Cyrl <зь> резь ‘pain’Preceding a voiceless consonant or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <сь> здесь ‘here’Preceding either a vowel, voiceless consonant, or ‹л, м, н, р, в›, or if word-final
ru-Cyrl <с> си́ний ‘blue’, есть ‘to eat’Preceding ‹я, ё, е, ю, и

/θː/ - geminate voiceless dental fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
ar-Arab <ث◌ّ> ممثّل ‘representative’

/s̼/ - voiceless linguolabial fricative

Writing SystemGraphemeExampleNotes
nat-Latn <sw> eswo ‘drink’, swatana ‘inherit’1 dialect pronounces s̼ as f, e.g. efo