Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

long s

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.53 in modern English

Syllables: long s
IPA

6

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The ſ character, as distinct from the short s (which is the s character).

Example Sentences

"An instance lately occurred of a work so divided (a prayer-book), where the first part was printed with long s’s, and the last part with round, independent of other deviations;"
"The Bible itself was quite unknown ground until I was ten and stumbled upon the Apocrypha in an old edition of the Bible printed with long s’s and beautiful early type."
"He liked me to come into his dressing-room to talk to him while he lathered his face, and I remembered the lie I told him when he asked me if I had used the top of his silver shaving-pot to knock in a nail, and the day when he asked me to read him Burke’s speeches aloud in an edition printed with long s’s."

Inflected Forms

long s's (plural) long ess (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

σ ς short s round s terminal s insular s trailing s sharp s

Synonyms

descending s medial s tall s

Questions

What does long s mean?: The ſ character, as distinct from the short s (which is the s character).

How to pronounce long s

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “long s”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “long s” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.