The (Cyrillic)

The or Es with Descender (Ҫ ҫ; italics: Ҫ ҫ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. The name the is pronounced [θɛ], like the pronunciation of ⟨the⟩ in "theft". In Unicode, this letter is called "Es with descender".^[1] In Chuvash, it looks identical to the Latin letter C with cedilla (Ç ç Ç ç). Occasionally, it also has the hook diacritic curved rightward like an ogonek, as in the Scalable Vector Graphics image shown in the sidebar. In many fonts, the character hooks to the left.^[1]

The is used in the alphabets of the Bashkir, Chuvash, and Enets.

• In Bashkir, it represents the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ (th as in thin).
• In Chuvash, it represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕ/ (somewhat like sh as in ship), and becomes lenis /ɕ̬/ when between vowels.
• In Enets, it represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕ/ (pronunciation above).

It is usually romanized as 'ś', 'ş', 'θ' or 'þ'.