Shin (also spelledŠin (šīn) orSheen) is the twenty-first and penultimateletter of theSemitic abjads, includingPhoenicianšīn 𐤔,Hebrewšīnש‎,Aramaicšīn 𐡔,Syriacšīn ܫ, andArabicsīnس‎.^[a][b]

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the GreekSigma (Σ) (which in turn gave rise to the LatinS, the Germanẞ and the CyrillicС), and the letterSha in theGlagolitic andCyrillic scripts (,Ш). TheSouth Arabian andEthiopian letterŚawt is also cognate. The letteršīn is the only letter of the Arabic alphabet with three dots with a letter corresponding to a letter in the Northwest Semitic abjad or the Phoenician alphabet.

Egyptian hieroglyph	Proto-Sinaitic	Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew

TheProto-Sinaitic glyph, according toWilliam Albright, was based on a "tooth" and with the phonemic value š "corresponds etymologically (in part, at least) to original Semiticṯ (th), which was pronounceds in South Canaanite".^[5] However, the Proto-Semitic word for "tooth" has been reconstructed as *šinn-.^[6]

The Phoenicianšin letter expressed the continuants of two Proto-Semitic phonemes, and may have been based on a pictogram of a tooth (inmodern Hebrewshen).

The history of the letters expressing sibilants in the various Semitic alphabets is somewhat complicated, due to different mergers betweenProto-Semitic phonemes. As usually reconstructed, there are nineProto-Semiticcoronalfricative phonemes that evolved into the various sibilants of its daughter languages, as follows:

Based on Semitic linguists (hypothesized), Samekh has no surviving descendant in theArabic alphabet, and that sīn is derived from Phoenicianšīn 𐤔 rather than Phoeniciansāmek 𐤎, but it corresponds exclusively to ArabicسSīn when comparing etymologically to other Semitic languages. In the Mashriqiabjadi orderس Phonecsīn takes the place ofSamekh at 15th position;^[c] meanwhile, theشshīn is placed at the 21st position, represents/ʃ/, and is the 13th letter of the modernhijā’ī (هِجَائِي) oralifbāʾī (أَلِفْبَائِي) order and is written thus:

In the Arabic alphabet, according to McDonald (1986), "there can be no doubt thatش‎‎ is a formal derivative ofس and thatس is descended from 𐡔."^[4] but unlike the Hebrewש‎ Sīn/Šīn and Aramaic𐡔‎‎ Sīn/Šīn, Arabicس Sīn is considered a completely separate letter fromش Šīn/ʃ/.

The Arabic lettershīn was an acronym for "something" (شيءshayʾ(un)[ʃajʔ(un)]) meaning the unknown in algebraic equations. In the transcription into Spanish, the Greek letterchi (χ) was used which was later transcribed into Latinx. The lettershīn, along withṮāʾ, are the only two surviving letters in Arabic with three dots above. According to some sources, this is the origin ofx used for the unknown in the equations.^[8][9] However, according to other sources, there is no historical evidence for this.^[10][11] InModern Arabic mathematical notation,سsīn, i.e.shīnwithout its dots, often corresponds to Latinx. This led a debate to many Semitic linguists that the lettershīn is Arabic forsamekh, although many Semitic linguists argue this debate as samekh has no surviving descendant in theArabic alphabet.

In theMaghrebian abjad sequence :

• صṢād replaces Samekh at 15th position and retains the numerical value of 60;
• س Sīn replaces Šīn at 21st position and retains the numerical value of 300.
• ش Šīn takes the places of the 28th letter with a numerical value of 1000.

InAramaic, where the use ofshin is well-determined, the orthography ofsin was never fully resolved.

To express an etymological *ś, a number of dialects chose eithersin orsamek exclusively, where other dialects switch freely between them (often 'leaning' more often towards one or the other). For example:^[12]

Regardless of how it is written, *ś in spoken Aramaic seems to have universally resolved to /s/.

Orthographic variants
Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
ש	ש	ש

Hebrew spelling:שִׁין

The Hebrew/s/ version according to the reconstruction shown above is descended from Proto-Semitic *ś, aphoneme thought to correspond to avoiceless alveolar lateral fricative/ɬ/, similar to WelshLl in "Llandudno" (Welsh:[ɬanˈdɨdnɔ]^ⓘ).

See alsoHebrew phonology,Śawt.

The Hebrew letter represents two different phonemes: asibilant/s/, like Englishsour, and a/ʃ/, like Englishshoe. Prior to the advent and ascendancy ofTiberian orthography, the two were distinguished by a superscriptsamekh, i.e.ש‎ vs.ש^ס‎, which later developed into the dot. The two are distinguished by a dot above the left-hand side of the letter for/s/ and above the right-hand side for/ʃ/. In the biblical nameIssachar (Hebrew:יִשָּׂשכָר) only, the second sin/shin letter is always written without any dot, even in fully vocalized texts. This is because the second sin/shin is always silent.

Ingematria, Shin represents the number 300. The breakdown of its namesake, Shin[300] - Yodh[10] - Nunh[50] gives thegeometrical meaningful number360, which can be interpreted as encompassing the fullness of the degrees ofcircles.

Shin as aprefix commonly used in late-Biblical and Modern Hebrew language carries similar meaning as specificity faringrelative pronouns in English: "that (..)", "which (..)" and "who (..)". When used this way, it is pronounced as 'sheh-' (IPA /ʃɛ-/.In colloquial Hebrew,Kaph and Shin together are a contraction ofכּאשר,ka'asher (as, when).

Shin is also one of the seven letters which receive “crowns” (calledtagin) in aSefer Torah. (SeeGimmel,Ayin,Teth,Nun,Zayin, andTzadi).

According toJudges 12:6, the tribe ofEphraim could not differentiate between Shin andSamekh; when theGileadites were at war with theEphraimites, they would ask suspected Ephraimites to say the wordshibboleth; an Ephraimite would saysibboleth and thus be exposed. This episode is the origin of the English termshibboleth.

Shin also stands for the wordShaddai, a Name of God. Akohen forms the letter Shin with each of his hands as he recites thePriestly Blessing. In the mid-1960s, actorLeonard Nimoy used a single-handed version of this gesture to create theVulcan hand salute for his character,Mr. Spock, onStar Trek.^[15][16]

The letter Shin is often written on the case of amezuzah, a scroll of parchment containing select Biblical texts. Sometimes the whole wordShaddai will be written.

The Shema Yisrael prayer also commands the Israelites to write God's commandments on their hearts (Deut. 6:6); the shape of the letter Shin mimics the structure of the humanheart: the lower, larger leftventricle (which supplies the full body) and the smaller right ventricle (which supplies the lungs) are positioned like the lines of the letter Shin.

A religious significance has been applied to the fact that there are three valleys that comprise the city of Jerusalem's geography: the Valley of Ben Hinnom, Tyropoeon Valley, andKidron Valley, and that these valleys converge to also form the shape of the letter shin, and that theTemple in Jerusalem is located where the dagesh (horizontal line) is. This is seen as a fulfillment of passages such asDeuteronomy 16:2 that instructs Jews to celebrate the Pasach at "the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name" (NIV).

In theSefer Yetzirah the letter Shin is King over Fire, Formed Heaven in the Universe, Hot in the Year, and the Head in the Soul.

The 13th-century Kabbalistic textSefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of theteffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe.

The corresponding letter for the/ʃ/ sound inRussian is nearly identical in shape to the Hebrewshin. Given that theCyrillic script includes borrowed letters from a variety of different alphabets such asGreek andLatin, it is often suggested that the lettersha is directly borrowed from the Hebrew lettershin (other hypothesized sources includeCoptic andSamaritan).

Shin Bet is a commonly used acronym for the IsraeliDepartment of Internal General Security. Despite referring to a former name of the department, it remains the term usually used in English. In Modern Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, the security service is known as theShabak.

AShin-Shin clash isIsraeli military parlance for a battle between two tank divisions (from Hebrew:שִׁרְיוֹן,romanized: shiryon,lit. 'armour').

Sh'at haShin ('Shin hour') is the last possible moment for any action, usually in a military context. Corresponds to the English expressioneleventh hour.

• Sin (letter)

• Macdonald, Michael C. A. (1986). "ABCs and letter order in Ancient North Arabian".Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies (16):101–168.
• Al-baghdadi, Zaki (2025)."Chapter 5".منظومة الحروف العربية [The Arabic Alphabet System] (in Arabic). King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language. p. 182.
• Kogan, Leonid (2011)."Proto-Semitic Phonology and Phonetics". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.).The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 54–151.ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.

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