Sha or shah?
sha is a noun meaning “The letter Ш, ш”; shah is a noun meaning “A king of Persia or Iran”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) shah is about 2.9 times as common as sha.
What is the difference between sha and shah?
| sha | shah | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, interjection | noun |
| Meaning | The letter Ш, ш dear, honey, hon A cryptographic hash produced with SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) | A king of Persia or Iran A supreme ruler in some West Asian, Central Asian or South Asian nations A Ukrainian monetary unit |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | shas | shahs shahs, shahy, shahiv shāhs |
| Pronunciation | [ʃæː] | /ʃɑː/ |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words | 6.5 times per million words |
Sources: sha and shah in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of sha and shah
sha
- 1
The letter Ш, ш
- 2
Alternative form of shah (“king of Persia etc.”)
- 3
Alternative letter-case form of SHA (“cryptographic hash”)
- 4
dear, honey, hon
- 5
A cryptographic hash produced with SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm)
- 6
Initialism of sidereal hour angle
- 7
UKInitialism of strategic health authority
shah
- 1
A king of Persia or Iran
- 2
A Ukrainian monetary unit
- 3
A supreme ruler in some West Asian, Central Asian or South Asian nations
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, sha or shah?
sha appears 2.2 times per million words; shah 6.5 times per million words.
sha 2.2 times per million wordsshah 6.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).