Ż

Ż is a letter in the Polish, Kashubian and Maltese alphabets.

= Polish =

ż represents a voiced retroflex fricative (IPA2|/ʐ/), similar to English "s" as in "pleasure". It usually corresponds to ž in other Slavic languages.

Its pronunciation is the same as the rz (digraph), the only difference being that "rz" evolved from a palatalized "r".

ż occasionally devoices to IPA|/ʂ/ (voiceless retroflex fricative), particularly in final position.

ż should not be confused with ź (or z followed by i), termed "soft zh", a voiced alveolopalatal fricative (IPA2|/ʑ/).

Examples of ż

audio|pl-żółty.ogg|żółty ("yellow")
audio|Zona.ogg|żona ("wife")

Compare ź:
audio|pl-źle.ogg|źle ("wrongly, badly")
audio|Pl-źrebię.ogg|źrebię ("foal")

= Kashubian =

Kashubian ż is a voiced fricative like in Polish, but it is postalveolar ( IPA2|/ʒ/) rather than retroflex.

= Maltese =

In Maltese ż is pronounced like "z" in English "maze".

Computer use

See also

* Polish alphabet
* Polish phonology
* Dot (diacritic)