Latin Small Letter Sharp S ß

The Latin Small Letter Sharp S character (ß) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference ß, the decimal numeric character reference ß, or the hexadecimal numeric reference ß. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+00DF in the Universal Character Set.

The sharp s or Eszett (ß) is a character unique to the German alphabet. It represents a voiceless 's' sound and historically developed from a ligature of long s and z. The ß appears after long vowels and diphthongs (Straße, Fuß, groß). In Switzerland, ß is not used — 'ss' is always written instead.

Latin extended character entities provide the accented and modified letters required by dozens of European languages. From French accents aigus and graves to German umlauts, Scandinavian rings, and Icelandic thorns, these entities ensure correct rendering of non-ASCII characters within HTML documents. While modern UTF-8 encoded pages can include these characters directly in source code, HTML entities remain valuable for source code clarity and legacy compatibility.

When deciding how to encode the Latin Small Letter Sharp S character in your HTML documents, the named entity ß is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form ß and hexadecimal form ß are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use this entity in German text (Straße, Fuß, heißen). The Eszett is not optional in standard German orthography — replacing ß with 'ss' is only correct in Swiss German or when the character is unavailable. A capital Eszett (ẞ) was officially added to Unicode in 2008.