is from the Greek sigma which in turn came from the Phoenician letter shin that resembled our modern W. S is phonetically known as a voiceless sibilant. Gustave Tory called it the silent letter and the Romans used ST as a symbol of silence. Now S is one of the most frequently used letters in English, beginning more words than any other letter.     The late Roman and early medieval alphabets created a second form of S, one similiar to a modern lowercase f. This use can be seen up until early American documents, including the Delcaration of Independence.
		SERIF: A stroke added to the beginning or end of one of the main strokes of a letter. In the roman alphabet, serfis are usually reflexive finishing strokes, forming unilateral or bilateral stops. (They are unilateral if they project only to one side of the main stroke, like the serifs at the head of T and the foot of L, and bilateral if they project to both sides, like the serifs at the foot of T and the head of L.) Transitive serifs — smooth entry or exit strokes — are usually in italic.

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z     home     alphabet introduction