In the German alphabet, ß (Unicode U+00DF, LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S) is a letter that originated as a ligature of sz. Like double "s", it is pronounced as an (see IPA), but in standard spelling, it is only used after long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels. Its German name is Eszett (, lexicalized expression for sz) or scharfes S (, sharp S).
History
Origin of long s and s as ligature in Roman type
In the late 18th and early 19th century, when more and more German texts were printed in Roman type, typesetters looked for a Roman counterpart for the blac...