Samekh

Samekh
Phoenician
𐤎
Hebrew
ס
Aramaic
𐡎
Syriac
ܣ
Phonemic representations
Position in alphabet15
Numerical value60
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
GreekΞ
CyrillicѮ

Samekh or samech is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician sāmek 𐤎, Hebrew sāmeḵ ס, Aramaic samek 𐡎, and Syriac semkaṯ ܣ. Arabic sīn س represents samekh, but there is no surviving descendant of samekh in the arabic alphabet. However, it was present in the Nabataean alphabet, the Arabic alphabet's immediate predecessor, as the letter simkath , which was related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪏‎‎‎ and South Arabian 𐩯. The numerical value of samekh is 60.

Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. In the Hebrew language, the samekh ס has the same pronunciation as the left-dotted shin שׂ.