Sh

ʃ

shoe /ʃuː/

Sh is an English digraph combining the letters S and H. It very reliably represents the IPA phonetic symbol /ʃ/, as in "shoe". For more examples see IPA phoneme /ʃ/.

Exceptions

"Sh" normally is a digraph. In some words "sh" are two letters representing /sh/.

• disharmony - dishearten - mishandle - mishap - mishear

Note that disheveled^AmE/dishevelled^BrE is di-shev-elled, not *dis-hev-elled.

Silent "h"

• dishonest - dishonored^AmE - dishonoured^BrE

Variant pronunciations

• cashmere (wool): /ˈkæʃmɪər, ˈkæʒmɪər^AmE, kæʃˈmɪər^BrE/
• Kashmir (region): /ˈkæʃmɪər, ˈkæʒmɪər, kæʃˈmɪər, kæʒˈmɪər/