page_title: ß
section_title: Usage in the reformed orthography of 1996
hierarchical_section_title: ß / Usage / Usage in the reformed orthography of 1996
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Rechtschreibreformiertes Straßennamensschild in Aachen (Ecke Kongressstraße/Adalbertsteinweg.) English: Street name sign (translated in English as: Congress Street) in Aachen adapted to the 1996 German spelling reform. Português: Placa de nome de rua em Aachen adaptada à última reforma ortográfica da língua Alemã. Français&#160;: Signe de nom de rue à Aix-la-Chapelle appliquant la dernière réforme orthographique de l'allemand. Español: Placa de nombre de calle en Aquisgrán adaptada a la Reforma Ortográfica de la Lengua Alemana de 1996. Italiano: Targa stradale ad Aquisgrana che applica la Riforma ortografica del Tedesco del 1996. Polski: Tabliczka z nazwą ulicy w Akwizgranie po reformie ortografii niemieckiej w roku 1996.
context_page_description: In German orthography, the grapheme ß, called Eszett or scharfes S, represents the phoneme in Standard German, specifically when following long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels.
  The name Eszett combines the names of the letters of s and z in German. The character's Unicode names in English are sharp s and eszett.
  It originates as the sz digraph as used in Old High German and Middle High German orthography, represented as a ligature of long s and tailed z in blackletter typography, which became conflated with the ligature for long s and round s used in Roman type.
  The grapheme has an intermediate position between letter and ligature.
  It behaves as a ligature in that it has no separate position in the alphabet. In alphabetical order, it is treated as the equivalent of ⟨ss⟩.
  It behaves like a letter in that its use is prescribed by orthographical rules and conveys phonological information.
  Traditionally, it did not have a capital form, although some type designers introduced de facto capitalized variants of ß.
  In 2017, the Council for German Orthography ultimately adopted capital ß into German orthography, ending a long orthographic debate.
context_section_description: In the orthography of the German spelling reform of 1996, both ß and ss are used to represent /s/ between two vowels in Standard German, as follows:
  ß is used after diphthongs (beißen [ˈbaɪ̯sn̩] ‘to bite’)
  ß is used after long vowels (grüßen [ˈɡʁyːsn̩] ‘to greet’)
  ss is used after short vowels (küssen [ˈkʏsn̩] ‘to kiss’)
  Thus it helps to distinguish words like Buße ('penance, fine': long vowel) and Busse ('buses': short vowel). It is also consistent with the general rule of German spelling that a doubled consonant letter serves to mark the preceding vowel as short (the consonant sound is never actually doubled or lengthened in pronunciation).
  In words where the stem changes, some forms may have an ß but others an ss, for instance: sie beißen (‘they bite’) vs. sie bissen (‘they bit’).
  The same rules apply at the end of a word or syllable, but are complicated by the fact that single s is also pronounced /s/ in those positions. Thus, words like groß ('large') require ß, while others, like Gras ('grass') use a single s. The correct spelling is not predictable out of context (in Standard German pronunciation), but is usually made clear by related forms, e.g., Größe ('size') and grasen ('to graze'), where the medial consonants are pronounced [s] and [z], respectively. Many dialects of German, however, have an even longer vowel, or an audibly less-sharp s, in cases single s is used.
caption: Replacement street sign in Aachen, adapted to the 1996 spelling reform (old: Kongreßstraße, new: Kongressstraße)
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Street name sign in Aachen adapted to the last German spelling reform", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A620", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:03 18:55:12", "Image Artist": "b'T\\xfarelio (Commons-user)'", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Creative Commons-BY-SA-2.5", "Image ExifOffset": "342", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2264", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4821", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "41/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:23 16:53:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:23 16:53:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "117/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "65/16", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "65/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "146/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1736", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2611", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2088", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/71", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "768000/71", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "146"}