Editing S (section)

==Use in writing systems==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|s}} by language
! Orthography
! Phonemes
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]])
| {{IPAslink|s}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
| {{IPAslink|s}}, {{IPAslink|z}}, ''silent''
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
| {{IPAslink|s}}, {{IPAslink|z}}, ''silent''
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
| {{IPAslink|z}}, {{IPAslink|s}}, {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]]
| {{IPAslink|s}}, {{IPAslink|z}}
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
| {{IPAslink|s}}
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|s}}
|}

===English===
In [[English orthography|English]], {{angbr|s}} represents a [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}}. It also commonly represents a [[voiced alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/z/}}, as in 'rose' and 'bands'. Due to [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#Yod-coalescence|yod-coalescence]], it may also represent a [[voiceless palato-alveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, as in 'sugar', or a [[voiced palato-alveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, as in 'measure'.

Final {{angbr|s}} is the usual mark for [[plural]] [[noun]]s. It is the regular ending of English [[grammatical person|third person]] [[present tense]] [[verb]]s.

In some words of French origin, {{angbr|s}} is silent, as in 'isle' or 'debris'.

The letter {{angbr|s}} is the seventh most common letter in [[English language|English]] and the third-most common consonant after {{angbr|t}} and {{angbr|n}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html |title=English Letter Frequency |access-date=2014-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523074827/http://www.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html |archive-date=2014-05-23 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the most common letter for the first letter of a word in the English language.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www3.nd.edu/~busiforc/handouts/cryptography/letterfrequencies.html|title=Letter Frequencies in the English Language|accessdate=July 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://funbutlearn.com/2012/06/which-english-letter-has-maximum-words.html|title=Which English Letter Has Maximum Words|date=June 25, 2012|access-date=2 July 2021|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182307/https://funbutlearn.com/2012/06/which-english-letter-has-maximum-words.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===German===
In [[German orthography|German]], {{angbr|s}} represents:
* A [[voiced alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/z/}} before vowels (except after [[obstruent]]s), as in 'sich'.
* A [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}} before consonants or when final, as in 'ist' and 'das'.
* A [[voiceless palato-alveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʃ/}} before {{angbr|p, t}} at the beginning of a word or syllable, as  in 'spät' and 'Stadt'.

When doubled ({{angbr|ss}}), it represents a [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}}, as in 'müssen'.

In the digraph {{angbr|sch}}, it represents a [[voiceless palato-alveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, as in 'schon'.

===Other languages===
In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, {{angbr|s}} represents the [[voiceless alveolar sibilant|voiceless alveolar]] or [[voiceless dental sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}}.

In many [[Romance language]]s, it also represents the [[voiced alveolar sibilant|voiced alveolar]] or [[voiced dental sibilant]] {{IPA|/z/}}, as in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''mesa'' (table).

In [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], it may represent the [[voiceless palato-alveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʃ/}} in most [[Portuguese dialects|dialects]] when syllable-final, and {{IPA|[ʒ]}} in [[European Portuguese]] ''Islão'' (Islam) or, in many sociolects of [[Brazilian Portuguese]], ''esdrúxulo'' ([[proparoxytone]]).

In some [[Andalusian Spanish|Andalusian dialects]] of Spanish, it merged with [[Peninsular Spanish]] {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|z}} and is now pronounced {{IPA|/θ/}}.

In [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], it represents {{IPA|/ʃ/}}.

In [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], it represents {{IPA|/θ/}}.

In several [[Western Romance languages]], like [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[French language|French]], the final {{angbr|s}} is the usual mark of [[plural]] [[noun]]s.

===Other systems===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], {{angbr|s}} represents the [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}}.