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s

German, noun

s is spelled S (one letter) and appears 550 times per million words in written German, the 173rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). S is a German neuter noun meaning “alternative letter-case form of S” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, 's is a different word: “contraction of das”. With a capital, S is a different word: “S”. On this page, s. is a different word: “abbreviation of siehe ("see")”.

What does s mean in English?

letter

  1. 1

    neuterThe nineteenth letter of the German alphabet, written in the Latin script.

noun

  1. 1

    neuteralternative letter-case form of S

suffix

as -s
  1. 1

    used to form the genitive singular of most masculine nouns, neuter nouns, and proper nouns of all genders

suffix

as -s
  1. 1

    masculineused to form instance nouns from verb stems

  2. 2

    masculineused to form paragogic byforms of nouns describing a mass

suffix

as -s
  1. 1

    Used to form the plurals of some nouns.

  2. 2

    Used to form the plurals of personal names, particularly family names.

suffix

as -s
  1. 1

    Used to form adverbs from nouns

  2. 2

    Sometimes used to form adverbs from adjectives

article

as 's
  1. 1

    colloquialcontraction of das

pronoun

as 's
  1. 1

    colloquialcontraction of es

  2. 2

    colloquialcontraction of das

verb

as 's
  1. 1

    colloquialcontraction of ist

letter

as S
  1. 1

    neuterThe nineteenth letter of the German alphabet, called es and written in the Latin script.

noun

as S
  1. 1

    neuterS

noun

as S
  1. 1

    abbreviation of Süd (“south”)

  2. 2

    abbreviation of Springer (“knight”)

suffix

as -'s
  1. 1

    archaicUsed to form the genitive of proper names

  2. 2

    Used to form the genitive of proper names under certain circumstances.

verb

as s.
  1. 1

    abbreviation of siehe ("see")

interfix

as -s-
  1. 1

    Genitival interfix used to link elements in some compounds.

noun

as S.
  1. 1

    abbreviation of Seite

  2. 2

    abbreviation of Süden

  3. 3

    abbreviation of Satz

article

as -'s
  1. 1

    colloquialcontracted form of das

pronoun

as -'s
  1. 1

    colloquialcontracted form of das

pronoun

as -'s
  1. 1

    colloquialcontracted form of es

verb

as -'s
  1. 1

    colloquialcontracted form of ist

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

abbreviation: 1. 19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Kleinbuchstabe zu „S“

abbreviation: 1. Sache 2. Sachsen 3. San, Sankt, Sant’, Santa, Santo, São 4. Säure

letter: 1. 19. Buchstabe des lateinischen Alphabets, Großbuchstabe zu „s“ beziehungsweise „ſ“

abbreviation: 1. deutsches Kraftfahrzeugkennzeichen für die Stadt Stuttgart 2. aktuelles österreichisches Kfz-Kennzeichen für den Bezirk (= Statutarstadt) Salzburg 3. früheres österreichisches Kfz-Kennzeichen für das Bundesland Salzburg (1947–1990, auslaufend) 4. früheres österreichisches Kfz-Kennzeichen für Galizien (1905–1918)

suffix: 1. [1] Allomorph/Deklinationsendung des Genitiv Singular 2. [2] Allomorph/Deklinationsendung des Plurals

interfix: 1. [1] Fugenelement in vielen Komposita

suffix: 1. es

suffix: 1. Sie

abbreviation: 1. [1] siehe (einleitend für einen Verweis) 2. [2] siehe (seltener, einleitend für eine Vergleichsreferenz → vgl., s. a.)

The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.

Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of s

  • S uppercase
  • ’s canonical
  • s lowercase
  • ſ lowercase obsolete

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to s

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is s in German?

s appears 550 times per million words in written German.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after s