| Z with overdot | |
| Letter: | Ż ż |
| Language: | Polish |
| Alphanumber: | 32 |
| Type: | alphabet |
| Typedesc: | ic |
| Phonemes: | pronounced as /[ʐ]/, pronounced as /[ʂ]/, pronounced as /[ʒ]/, pronounced as /[z]/, pronounced as /[ð]/, pronounced as /[dð~dz]/ |
| Equivalents: | Ƶ ƶ |
Ż, ż (Z with overdot) is a letter, consisting of the letter Z of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and an overdot.
In the Polish language, ż is the final, 32nd letter of the alphabet. It typically represents the voiced retroflex fricative (pronounced as /[ʐ]/), somewhat similar to the pronunciation of in "mirae"; however, in a word-final position or when followed by a voiceless obstruent, it is devoiced to the voiceless retroflex fricative (pronounced as /[ʂ]/).
Its pronunciation is the same as that of the digraph, except that (unlike) also undergoes devoicing when preceded by a voiceless obstruent. The difference in spelling comes from their historical pronunciations: ż originates from a palatalized pronounced as //ɡ// or pronounced as //z//, while evolved from a palatalized .[1]
The letter was originally introduced in 1513 by Stanisław Zaborowski in his book Ortographia.[2]
Occasionally, the letter Ƶ ƶ (Z with a horizontal stroke) is used instead of Ż ż for aesthetic purposes, especially in all-caps text and handwriting.
Kashubian ż is a voiced fricative like in Polish, but it is postalveolar (pronounced as /link/) rather than retroflex.
In Maltese, ż represents the voiced alveolar sibilant pronounced as /[z]/, pronounced like "z" in English "mae". This contrasts with the letter, which represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate pronounced as /[ts]/, like in the word "ha".
| align=right | Character ! | Ż | ż | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=right | Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE | LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE | |||
| align=left | character encoding | decimal | hex | decimal | hex | |
| align=left | 379 | 017B | 380 | 017C | ||
| align=left | 197 187 | C5 BB | 197 188 | C5 BC | ||
| align=left | Ż | Ż | ż | ż | ||
| align=left | 189 | BD | 190 | BE | ||
| align=left | 163 | A3 | 164 | A4 | ||
| align=left | 161 | A1 | 167 | A7 | ||
| align=left | 175 | AF | 191 | BF | ||
| align=left | 221 | DD | 253 | FD | ||
| align=left | 251 | FB | 253 | FD | ||