What language does ž come from and how do you say it?The letter ž shows up in the Czech and Slovak languages. It is pronounced like the
z in
azure and the
g in
garage (in some varieties of English); it is the voiced counterpart of the
sh in
ship. In Czech, the little fillip on top of the
z is called a
háček, or little hook, (
link). Another name for it is
caron.
You could also transliterate it as zh as in Marshal Zhukov if you can't be bothered finding the keystrokes to produce ž.
My first name, James, is pronounced /džejmz/ which backwards is zmježd.
That answers my next question, but I have another.
Are you a professor of linguistics?
