Ż

Z with overdot
Z with overdot
Ż ż
Usage
Type	alphabetic
Language of origin	Polish
Sound values	[ʐ], [ʂ], [ʒ], [z], [ð], [dð~dz]
Alphabetical position	32
History
Development	Ż ż;
Transliterations	Ƶ ƶ
Other
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Ż, ż (Z with overdot) is a letter, consisting of the letter Z of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and an overdot.

Usage

Polish

In the Polish language, ż is the final, 32nd letter of the alphabet. It typically represents the voiced retroflex fricative ([ʐ]), somewhat similar to the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "mirage"; however, in a word-final position or when followed by a voiceless obstruent, it is devoiced to the voiceless retroflex fricative ([ʂ]).

Its pronunciation is the same as that of the digraph ⟨rz⟩, except that ⟨rz⟩ (unlike ⟨ż⟩) also undergoes devoicing when preceded by a voiceless obstruent. The difference in spelling comes from their historical pronunciations: ż originates from a palatalized /ɡ/ or /z/, while ⟨rz⟩ evolved from a palatalized ⟨r⟩.^[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

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

Maltese

In Maltese, ż represents the voiced alveolar sibilant [z], pronounced like "z" in English "maze". This contrasts with the letter ⟨z⟩, which represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate [ts], like in the word "hats".

Computing codes

Character	Ż		ż
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE		LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE
character encoding	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	379	017B	380	017C
UTF-8	197 187	C5 BB	197 188	C5 BC
Numeric character reference	Ż	Ż	ż	ż
CP 852	189	BD	190	BE
CP 775	163	A3	164	A4
Mazovia	161	A1	167	A7
Windows-1250, ISO-8859-2	175	AF	191	BF
Windows-1257, ISO-8859-13	221	DD	253	FD
Mac Central European	251	FB	253	FD

References

^ Corbett, Greville; Comrie, Bernard (2003). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge. p. 690. ISBN 978-1-136-86137-6. The spelling difference reflects the historical difference between a palatalization of /r/ (for rz) and of /g/ or /z/ (for ż).
^ Edward Polański. "Reformy ortografii polskiej – wczoraj, dziś, jutro". Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Językoznawczego, vol. 60, p. 31. 2004. Warsaw: Energeia. ISSN 0032-3802. (in Polish)