Ezh

<h2 id="origin">Origin</h2>
<p>As a phonetic symbol, it originates with <a href="/facts/Isaac_Pitman/mTnHdB0A">Isaac Pitman</a>'s <a href="/facts/English_Phonotypic_Alphabet/yJdP07kb">English Phonotypic Alphabet</a> in 1847, as a <i>z</i> with an added hook. The symbol is based on <a href="/facts/Gothic_minuscule/9r62McCb">medieval cursive</a> forms of Latin ⟨<a href="/facts/Z/Bf1NUwpT">z</a>⟩, evolving into the <a href="/facts/Blackletter/9r62McCb">blackletter</a> ⟨z⟩ letter. In Unicode, however, the blackletter ⟨z⟩ ("<a href="/facts/Z/Bf1NUwpT">tailed z</a>", German <i>geschwänztes Z</i>) is considered a glyph variant of ⟨z⟩, and not an ezh.
Humanist <a href="/facts/Gian_Giorgio_Trissino/VglfEwQW">Gian Giorgio Trissino</a> proposed in 1524 a reform of <a href="/facts/Italian_orthography/QP2BJ6J7">Italian orthography</a> introducing ezh as an uppercase ⟨<a href="/facts/%C3%87/2e7jmUaG">ç</a>⟩ for the [dz] sound.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
</p><p>In contexts where "tailed z" is used in contrast to tail-less z, notably in standard transcription of <a href="/facts/Middle_High_German/LI9JRDIu">Middle High German</a>, Unicode ⟨ʒ⟩ is sometimes used, strictly speaking incorrectly. Unicode offers ⟨<a href="/facts/%C8%A4/Bf1NUwpT">ȥ</a>⟩ "z with hook" as a grapheme for Middle High German coronal fricative instead.
</p>
<h2 id="similarities-to-other-glyphs">Similarities to other glyphs</h2>

<h3>Yogh</h3>
<p>In <a href="/facts/Unicode_1.0/DDu3MfPV">Unicode 1.0</a>, the character was unified with the unrelated character <a href="/facts/Yogh/Lyxte1LY">yogh</a> ⟨Ȝ ȝ⟩, which was not correctly added to Unicode until Unicode 3.0. Historically, ezh is derived from Latin ⟨<a href="/facts/Z/Bf1NUwpT">z</a>⟩, but yogh is derived from Latin ⟨<a href="/facts/G/0wjXcPDT">g</a>⟩ by way of <a href="/facts/Insular_G/z03gWhXy">insular G</a>. The characters look very similar and do not appear alongside each other in any alphabet. To differentiate between the two more clearly, the <a href="/facts/Oxford_University_Press/CYyTzzWG">Oxford University Press</a> and the <a href="/facts/Early_English_Text_Society/Ax47Ne6d">Early English Text Society</a> extend the uppermost tip of the yogh into a little curvature upward.
</p>
<h3>Numeral three</h3>
<p>The ezh looks similar to the common form of the <a href="/facts/3_(number)/6QzW9RkE">figure three</a> ⟨3⟩. To differentiate between the two characters, ezh includes the sharp zigzag of the letter ⟨z⟩, while the number is usually curved. Some typefaces use a form of ⟨3⟩ with a flat top, very similar (or virtually identical) to an ezh.
</p><p>In handwritten Cyrillic, the numeral ⟨3⟩ is sometimes written in a form similar to the ezh, so as to distinguish it from the letter <a href="/facts/Ze_(Cyrillic)/WQGxJ272">ze</a> ⟨З⟩.
</p>
<h3>Hiragana ro</h3>

<p>Ezh looks similar to the <a href="/facts/Syllabogram/ouMUuNoA">syllabogram</a> ⟨<a href="/facts/Ro_(kana)/zVShf8qx">ろ</a>⟩, which is the hiragana form of the Japanese <a href="/facts/Mora_(linguistics)/7uNR6X4c">mora</a> <i>ro</i>.
</p>
<h3>Cyrillic ze and dze</h3>
<p>The Cyrillic letter <a href="/facts/Ze_(Cyrillic)/WQGxJ272">ze</a> ⟨З з⟩ has a similar body to Ezh and the <a href="/facts/Abkhazian_dze/NXS1jF2w">Abkhazian dze</a> ⟨Ӡ ӡ⟩. As customary, the Cyrillic script has a stiffer structure, but both letters have common roots in historical cursive forms of the Greek letter <a href="/facts/Zeta/FrAnlRnX">zeta</a> ⟨Ζ ζ⟩.
</p><p>However, Latin ezh and Cyrillic ze represent different phonemes: the former generally represents /ʒ/, while the latter represents /z/. Cyrillic uses <a href="/facts/Zhe_(Cyrillic)/yLj0rH7J">zhe</a> ⟨Ж ж⟩ for the /ʒ/ phoneme.
</p>
<h2 id="usage">Usage</h2>

<h3>Language orthographies</h3>
<p>Trissino's reform did not prosper in relation to the ⟨z⟩.
</p><p>In the IPA it represents the <a href="/facts/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative/Tb8XpRoS">voiced postalveolar fricative</a> consonant.  For example: <i>vision</i> /ˈvɪʒən/. It is pronounced as the ⟨s⟩ in "treasure" or the ⟨si⟩ in the word "precision".
</p><p>It is used with that value in <a href="/facts/Uropi/DVWwsSax">Uropi</a>.
</p><p>It is used in the "International Standard" orthography, as devised by Marcel Courthiade for <a href="/facts/Romani_alphabets/BgLElcMs">Romani</a>.
</p><p>It was also used in an obsolete Latin alphabet for writing <a href="/facts/Komi_language/qJwlzNhW">Komi</a>, where it represented [d͡ʑ] (similar to English ⟨j⟩). In the modern Cyrillic alphabet, this sound is written as "дз".
</p><p>It was also used during <a href="/facts/Latinisation_in_the_Soviet_Union/IygT12bJ">Latinisation in the USSR</a> in the project of <a href="/facts/Unified_Northern_Alphabet/Exv0jzv9">Unified Northern Alphabet</a> and other alphabets of the people of the Soviet Union during the 1920–1930s.
</p>
<h3>Ezh as an abbreviation for dram</h3>
<p>In <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a>, a standard designed to allow symbols from all writing systems to be represented and manipulated by computers, the ezh is also used as the symbol to represent the abbreviation for <a href="/facts/Dram_(unit)/1scgnhGC">dram</a> or drachm, an <a href="/facts/Apothecaries%27_system/evR6QWU9">apothecaries' system</a> <a href="/facts/Units_of_measurement/pvTpWbmC">unit</a> of <a href="/facts/Mass/HHdc8XmF">mass</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>  Unicode has no dedicated symbol for dram,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> but the Unicode code table entry for ezh reads "LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH = dram sign".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>  The upper-case letter <i>z</i> in <a href="/facts/Blackletter/9r62McCb">Blackletter</a>/<a href="/facts/Fraktur/1MlTtGvl">Fraktur</a> hand, ℨ, is also seen used for dram, but this letter is meant to be used in mathematics and phonetics, and is not recommended as an abbreviation for dram.
</p>
<h2 id="encoding-and-ligatures">Encoding and ligatures</h2>
<p>The <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a> code points are U+01B7 for ⟨Ʒ⟩ and U+0292 for ⟨ʒ⟩. <a href="/facts/%C7%AE/Cr7290zV">Ezh with caron</a> is also <a href="/facts/Precomposed_character/LhKrFQ4Y">precomposed</a> in <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a> with the code points U+01EE for ⟨Ǯ⟩ and U+01EF for ⟨ǯ⟩.
</p><p>The IPA historically allowed for ezh to be <a href="/facts/Typographic_ligature/urMIGfmN">ligatured</a> to other letters; some of these ligatures have been added to the Unicode standard.
</p>
<ul><li>Dezh ligatures ezh with the letter D (U+02A4 ʤ LATIN SMALL LETTER DEZH DIGRAPH).</li>
<li>Lezh ligatures ezh with the letter L (U+026E ɮ LATIN SMALL LETTER LEZH).</li>
<li>Tezh ligatures ezh with the letter T (U+A728 Ꜩ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TZ and U+A729 ꜩ LATIN SMALL LETTER TZ).</li></ul>
<p>Related <a href="/facts/Obsolete_and_nonstandard_symbols_in_the_International_Phonetic_Alphabet/8pbmYUcE">obsolete IPA characters</a> include U+01BA ƺ LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH WITH TAIL and U+0293 ʓ LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH WITH CURL.
</p><p>U+1DBE ᶾ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL EZH and U+1D9A ᶚ LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH WITH RETROFLEX HOOK are also used for phonetic transcription.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p><p>U+1D23 ᴣ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL EZH is used in the <a href="/facts/Uralic_Phonetic_Alphabet/G0Sk8xGp">Uralic Phonetic Alphabet</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p><p>U+1DF18 𝼘 LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH WITH PALATAL HOOK was previously used in the <a href="/facts/International_Phonetic_Alphabet/2e7jmUaG">IPA</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="typing-character">Typing character</h2>
<p>For Mac: Option⌥+:, followed by ⇧ Shift+Z or Z respectively.
</p><p>For Windows (Sámi Keyboard Layout): AltGr+B.
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Unified_Northern_Alphabet/Exv0jzv9">Unified Northern Alphabet</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/%C6%B8/Cr7290zV">Reversed Ezh</a> (Ƹ ƹ)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Abkhazian_Dze/NXS1jF2w">Abkhazian Dze</a> (Ӡ ӡ)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Ze_(Cyrillic)/WQGxJ272">Cyrillic Ze</a> (З з)</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Michael_Everson/8Se2cLdz">Michael Everson</a>'s essay <a href="http://www.evertype.com/standards/wynnyogh/ezhyogh.html">On the derivation of Yogh and Ezh</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Trissino, Giovan Giωrgio (1524). De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana - Wikisource (in Italian). Retrieved 19 October 2022. qui il z ha piu del c Lombardo, chε in Ӡona, Ӡoroaʃtro, Ӡephiro, meço, ε ʃimili <a href="/wiki/Gian_Giorgio_Trissino" target="_blank">/wiki/Gian_Giorgio_Trissino</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>William R. Newman et al. "Toward a Proposal for an Alchemy Unicode Plane." 12 August 2008. <a href="https://typedrawers.com/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unicode.org%2FL2%2FL2008%2F08313-newton-alchemy.pdf" target="_blank">https://typedrawers.com/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unicode.org%2FL2%2FL2008%2F08313-newton-alchemy.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Unicode: where is the Drachma sign?" typedrawers.com. <a href="https://typedrawers.com/discussion/4676/unicode-where-is-the-drachma-sign" target="_blank">https://typedrawers.com/discussion/4676/unicode-where-is-the-drachma-sign</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"IPA Extensions. Range: 0250–02AF" The Unicode Standard, Version 15.1. 2023. <a href="https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0250.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0250.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Constable, Peter (2004-04-19). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF). <a href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Everson, Michael; et al. (2002-03-20). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). <a href="/wiki/Michael_Everson" target="_blank">/wiki/Michael_Everson</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Miller, Kirk (2020-07-11). "L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks" (PDF). <a href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Anderson, Deborah (2020-12-07). "L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes" (PDF). <a href="https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Ezh open-in-new

Ezh