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• s
  s

  abbreviation

  satisfactory.
• 's
  's

  an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (orwitness' ), king of England's, or anyone's.
• S
  S

  noun

  the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
• -s
  -s

  a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs.
• s.
  s.

  abbreviation

  saint.
• S.
  S.

  abbreviation

  (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.
• -'s
  -'s

  suffix

  forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns
• -s'
  -s'

  suffix

  forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns

s

¹ American  

abbreviation

1. satisfactory.

2. signature.

3. small.

4. soft.

5. south.

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s ² American  

Symbol.

1. second.

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's ³ American  

1. an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (orwitness' ), king of England's, or anyone's.

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's ⁴ American  

1. contraction of is:

   She's here.

2. contraction of does:

   What's he do for a living now?

3. contraction of has:

   He's just gone.

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's ⁵ American  

Archaic.

1. a contraction of God's, as in 'swounds; 'sdeath; 'sblood.

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's ⁶ American  

1. a contraction of us, as in Let's go.

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's ⁷ American  

1. a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.

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S ⁸ American  

[es] / ɛs /

Or s

noun

• S's,
  plural
• Ss,
  plural
• s's,
  plural
• ss
  plural

1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter S or s, as in saw, sense, or goose.

3. something having the shape of an S .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter S or s.

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S ⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. satisfactory.

2. Baseball. sacrifice.

3. Baseball. save.

4. Saxon.

5. sentence.

6. short.

7. Electricity. siemens.

8. signature.

9. single.

10. small.

11. soft.

12. Music. soprano.

13. South.

14. Southern.

15. state (highway).

16. Grammar. subject.

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S ¹⁰ American  

Symbol.

1. the 19th in order or in a series

2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 7 or 70.

3. second.

4. Biochemistry. serine.

5. Thermodynamics. entropy.

6. Physics. strangeness.

7. Chemistry. sulfur.

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-s ¹¹ American  

1. a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs.

   always; betimes; needs; unawares.

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-s ¹² American  

1. an ending marking the third person singular indicative active of verbs.

   walks.

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-s ¹³ American  

1. an ending marking nouns as plural (boys; wolves ), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; entrails; pants; scissors ), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (clothes; glasses; manners; thanks ). The pluralizing value of -s3 is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games (billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks ) and of diseases (measles; mumps; pox; rickets ); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntary conditions, physical or mental (collywobbles; d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies ). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenient states (bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers ); cf. -ers.

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-s ¹⁴ American  

1. a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address.

   Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Sweetums; Toodles.

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s. ¹⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. saint.

2. school.

3. second.

4. section.

5. see.

6. series.

7. shilling; shillings.

8. sign.

9. signed.

10. silver.

11. singular.

12. sire.

13. small.

14. society.

15. son.

16. south.

17. southern.

18. steamer.

19. stem.

20. stem of.

21. substantive.

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S. ¹⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.

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S. ¹⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) let it be written.

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S. ¹⁸ American  

abbreviation

1. Fellow.

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S. ¹⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. Sabbath.

2. Saint.

3. Saturday.

4. Saxon.

5. (in Austria) schilling; schillings.

6. School.

7. Sea.

8. Senate.

9. September.

10. shilling; shillings.

11. Signor.

12. Small.

13. Socialist.

14. Society.

15. sol.

16. South.

17. Southern.

18. (in Ecuador) sucre; sucres.

19. Sunday.

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S ¹ British  

symbol

1. satisfactory

2. Society

3. small (size)

4. South

5. chem sulphur

6. physics

   1. entropy

   2. siemens

   3. strangeness

7. currency

   1. (the former) schilling

   2. sol

   3. (the former) sucre

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abbreviation

1. Sweden (international car registration)

-'s ² British  

suffix

1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns

   man's

   one's

2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s

   children's

3. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols

   20's

   p's and q's

4. informal contraction of is or has

   he's here

   John's coming

   it's gone

5. informal contraction of us with let

   let's

6. informal contraction of does in some questions

   where's he live?

   what's he do?

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s. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. see

2. semi-

3. shilling

4. singular

5. son

6. succeeded

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S. ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. Saint

2. school

3. Sea

4. Signor

5. Society

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s ⁵ British  

/ ɛs /

noun

1. the 19th letter and 15th consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar fricative, either voiceless, as in sit, or voiced, as in dogs

3. 1. something shaped like an S

   2. ( in combination )

      an S-bend in a road

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-s ⁶ British  

suffix

1. forming the plural of most nouns

   boys

   boxes

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-s ⁷ British  

suffix

1. forming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs

   he runs

   she washes

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-s ⁸ British  

suffix

1. forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity

   Fats

   Fingers

   ducks

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-s' ⁹ British  

suffix

1. forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns

   girls'

   for goodness' sake

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s ¹⁰ British  

symbol

1. second (of time)

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Usage

See contraction.

See contraction.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• S's
  plural
• Ss
  plural
• s's
  plural
• ss
  plural

Etymology

Origin of 's³

Middle English -es, Old English

Origin of -s¹¹

Middle English -es, Old English; ultimately identical with 's ¹

Origin of -s¹²

Middle English (north) -( e ) s, Old English (north); originally ending of 2nd person singular, as in Latin and Greek; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth -eth ¹

Origin of -s¹³

Middle English - ( e ) s, Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of -s¹⁴

Probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s ³, as boots or Goldilocks

Origin of S.¹⁶

From the Latin word signa

Origin of S.¹⁷

From the Latin word signētur

Origin of S.¹⁸

From the Latin word socius

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

s 's S -s s. S. -'s S's Ss s's ss

The message being sent by the market was clear: It’ s becoming increasingly obvious that there’s no easy fix for Washington’s persistent deficits.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

The program—and other initiatives s at the company—represent a growing revenue stream, but still account for only a fraction of the automaker’s revenue and total production capacity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

At the same time, oxygen isotope analysis of fossil tooth enamel revealed that the pygmy elephants depended heavily on river water that became harder to find s conditions grew drier.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026

Analog Devices projects fiscal second-quarter revenue of $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion and profit of $2.73 to $3.03 s share, exceeding forecasts.

From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026

So I went to the market every weekend for two months to save up for Caitlin s gift.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

The prime minister ’s approach has broad support from the Canadian public and his political opponents, but it isn’t without risks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

My top priority has always been the team 's success.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Gov. Shin Hyun-song ’s remarks will likely reinforce market expectations that the central bank will resume tightening as soon as next month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

He agreed with Jurors 9 and 11, arguing No.5 ‘s assertions were “not coming from what we heard.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2025

“But ’s only a matter o’ time, i’n’t it, after Malfoy...”

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

The PAC had received a $150,000 donation from a newly created LLC with a typo in its name: the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers, with no S at the end of “Scientist.”

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

It offers a sports-themed way of approaching the topic, called GOALS, representing G: get ready; O: open the conversation; A: ask the question; L: listen and respond and S: support and signpost.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

While the torque-vectoring/locking rear differential and Active Ride system come standard with the Turbo, both are available as options on the S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Electronic door handles were introduced with Tesla's 2012 launch of the Model S, later becoming popular with Chinese EV brands prioritising high-tech features.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

Turning the corner from S to X, I heard one inmate say to another wistfully, “Another year.”

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

I am struck by how busy the the waiting room -s, with several patients of varying ages and ethnicity willing to take part.

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2023

However, some English dialects omit the -s ending for singular verbs or use a singular verb with a plural subject: The man ask for help.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

Poets, Poetasters, Poeticules Sirs: In re poet, -s, -asters, -icules under Books in the issue of Dec. 26, my curiosity will allow me no peace.

From Time Magazine Archive

We rarely find this -s in the case of occupative names, but Parsons, Vicars or Vickers, and Monks are common, and in fact the first two are scarcely found without the -s.

From The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley

One curious phenomenon, of which I can offer no explanation, is that while many spot names occur indifferently with or without -s, e.g.

From The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley

Lowe’s Co s. started reopening some of its Texas stores Monday, although 26 remained closed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2017

Before Getty, she was finance chief for McCann Worldgroup, a subsidiary of Interpublic Group of Co s., a publicly traded advertising company.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2017

Ms. Ganim wrote: "There are unanswered? s. price of paper, which days will publish, no. of positions, organization mode."

From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2012

By January 1938, when the price was doubled from 1 s. to 2 s., circulation had climbed to 6,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

“I heard ... it was on the new s. I just wanted ... is it him? Have they arrested him?”

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

"A tropical cyclone has to stand up straight before it can intensify," said Michael S. Fischer, the lead author and an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the Rosenstiel School.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

This is no secret to my forbearing friends who slouched in theater seats next to me during, say, every Paul W. S. Anderson-directed disaster in the “Resident Evil” series.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Skywalker Grill is located atop the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art at One Lucas Plaza, 3800 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, and is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.;

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

The Senate already passed its own version, S. 1525, which has been sitting at the House desk since Aug. 10.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Setting his alarm to ring in ten minutes, Jeremy picked up the book Miss Priest had given him— the one written by S. H. Elives.

From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville

He was silent, and the corners of his mouth were drawn down just like -’s at an evening party.

From Letters from the Cape by Lady Lucie Duff Gordon

I'm glad to think I owe you the review that pleased me best of all the reviews I ever had; the one I liked best before that was -'s on the ARABIANS.

From Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson — Volume 1 by Robert Louis Stevenson

I. and II. of the heavily illustrated 'Adventures of David Balfour' at 7s. 6d. each, sold separately. -'s letter was vastly sly and dry and shy.

From Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson

Which brings us to the Turbo S’s handling cheat code: its active electrohydraulic roll stabilization system.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

She says the close-knit trio, who dubbed themselves the Three S's, called them "happy Fridays" as it meant another week of work and school was over.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025

He focused on what he called the three S’s: “Speed, story and spectacle.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023

“There are four S’s when it comes to heat exposure,” Levy says.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 5, 2023

By the time she got to the S’s, I was shaky, because every one of the children who had gone before me had come back crying, pressing a wad of cotton against their arm.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Ss and Zs were challenges for his reconstructed tongue.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2024

We built more Series Xs than we did Series Ss.

From The Verge ● Nov. 24, 2020

They originally planned to marry on May 24 at the Ss.

From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2020

Last June, another sculpture by Schmalz titled “Homeless Jesus” was unveiled outside downtown’s Ss.

From Washington Times ● May 23, 2016

Crenshaw’s tail rose and fell, making lazy Ss in the air.

From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate

Add 160s to get the s’s to the right.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

"They were Kentucky guys with beautiful, perfect-pitch harmonies and great diction. All those vowels and consonants, those s's and t's, every one of them killed me," he said.

From Reuters ● Jan. 4, 2014

It’s thin and high-pitched, with elongated vowels and extra-sibilant s’s — the voice of a crooner more than a sportscaster.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2012

The President-Elect pondered s's and c's, and answered: "D-e-s-s-i-c-a-t-e."

From Time Magazine Archive

"You're pretty good at avoiding those s's," she said.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

She ultimately settled down with Lisa Hintelmann, a former magazine editor who ss the director of talent and entertainment partnerships at Audible.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2017

Until then, they are ss screening phone calls and keeping the television turned off.

From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2017

M ss ng P eces has nine employees, and Kuschnir expects they all would have voted even without a day off to do it.

From Inc ● Nov. 2, 2012

He demonstrated this by making an odd whistling noise, which sounded something like "s, s, ss, ss, s".

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2011

Of course this aria would be written by someone with this name, the very utterance of which slays me—the trilled rr and knife-blade-between-the-teeth ss in his name.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper