ss

See also: Ss, SS, ß, and Appendix:Variations of "ss"

Translingual

Symbol

ss

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Swazi.
2. (pharmacy, alchemy) Apothecary symbol for half.

   Synonym: ß

English

Noun

ss

1. plural of s (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

• Opinions vary regarding the use of apostrophes when forming the plurals of letters of the alphabet. New Fowler's Modern English Usage, after noting that the usage has changed, states on page 602 that "after letters an apostrophe is obligatory." The 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style states in paragraph 7.16, "To avoid confusion, lowercase letters ... form the plural with an apostrophe and an s". The Oxford Style Manual on page 116 advocates the use of common sense.

Noun

ss

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of screenshot.

Czech

Interjection

ss

1. sss (the hiss of a snake or other reptile)

Further reading

• “ss”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957

German

Symbol

ss

1. Sometimes used to replace the letter ß, especially when this key or character is not available. It was also the only official way of writing a capital ß, until ẞ was officially adopted by the Council for German Orthography in June 2017.
2. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of ß.

Usage notes

In alphabetic ordering, the letter ß is equivalent to the string ss (formerly sz), so aß (“ate”) is sorted between Aspirin (“aspirin”) and Ast (“branch”), immediately after the alphabetically equivalent Ass (“ace”). The letter is never used in Swiss or Liechtenstein German, where it is always replaced by ss. Furthermore, ß was unique among the letters of the Latin alphabet as there was no capital form until ẞ was adopted in June 2017; in all-caps, all instances of ß were officially replaced by SS. However, not every instance of SS can be substituted back into ß.

Since the orthography reform from 1996, the letter ß is used only after long vowels and diphthongs. Before 1996, ß could also occur after short vowels at the end of a word or before a consonant. A rather large number of words that used to be spelled with ß ia now spelled with ss (for example, daß has become dass).

Synonyms

• ß
• Eszett
• sz

Portuguese

Adverb

ss

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Alternative form of s (“yes”)

Noun

ss m (uncountable)

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Alternative form of s (“yes”)

Interjection

ss

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Alternative form of s (“yes”)

Romanian

Interjection

ss

1. Alternative form of st