eszett

E1S1Z10E1T1T1

noun

The name of the Latin script letter ẞ/ß.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nouneszett (plural eszetts)

plural eszetts

  1. The name of the Latin script letter ẞ/ß.

    In fits of concealed despair that went unnoticed even by those close enough to touch, Julien cursed the language of umlauts, eszetts, and gerunds.

    1997, Matthew Piepenburg, Time and the Maiden, →ISBN, page 62
    1 more example

    In German, the ß character is called eszett. It’s used in “Straße,” the word for street, and in the expletive “Scheiße.” It’s often transliterated as “ss,” and strangely enough, it’s never had an official uppercase counterpart. […] At a 1903 typography conference, attendees decided that they would use lowercase eszett and substitute “SZ” for uppercase instances of the letter, until they could figure out a proper design for it.

    2017 July 20, Thu-Huong Ha, “Germany has ended a century-long debate over a missing letter in its alphabet”, in Quartz, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2019

    Synonyms: double S, sharp s

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe name of the Latin script letter ẞ/ß.

Origin

  1. GermanEszett
  2. Englisheszett

Borrowed from German Eszett, from the names of the letters S and Z which make up its blackletter form.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian есцет
  • есцет (escet)a German letter
Dutch ringel-s
  • ringel-sa German letter
Esperanto esceto, sozo
  • escetoa German letter
  • sozoa German letter
Finnish kaksois-s
  • kaksois-sa German letter
French eszett
  • eszetta German letter
German Eszett, scharfes S
  • Eszetta German letter
  • scharfes Sa German letter
Japanese エスツェット
  • エスツェット (esutsetto)a German letter
Korean 에스체트
  • 에스체트 (eseucheteu)a German letter
Portuguese eszett
  • eszetta German letter
Russian эсце́т, эс-це́т
  • эсце́т (escét)a German letter
  • эс-це́т (es-cét)a German letter
Cite this entry
APA

eszett. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eszett

MLA

“eszett.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eszett. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eszett,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eszett.

Source: eszett on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.