SS

See also: Ss, ss, ß, and Appendix:Variations of "ss"

Translingual

Symbol

SS

1. (international standards) ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for South Sudan since 2011.

   Synonym: SSD (alpha-3)

English

Etymology 1

Abbreviations.

Noun

SS

2. Abbreviation of Saints.
4. Initialism of social security.
6. Initialism of secret service.
8. Initialism of spousal support.
10. Initialism of stainless steel.

    Near-synonym: CRES

11. (nautical) A shiptype.
    2. Initialism of steamship.

       Synonyms: S/S, S.S., S. S., S./S.

       Hypernyms: ship < vessel

       Hyponyms: PS, TS

       Coordinate terms: SV, MV, MS

    4. Initialism of screw steamer (a screw-driven steamship).

       Coordinate term: PS

    6. (US, Navy) Initialism of subsurface, a subsurface ship, a submarine.

       Coordinate terms: SSN, SSK, SSB, SSG, SSKN, SSBN, SSGN, APSS, LPSS

       1. A conventionally-powered submarine.

          Coordinate terms: SSK, SSB, SSG

       2. A diesel-powered attack submarine.

          Synonym: SSK

13. (military, rocketry) NATO prefix-code for surface-to-surface missiles developed by the Soviet Union.
15. (baseball) Initialism of shortstop.
17. (computing) Initialism of screenshot.
19. (statistics) Initialism of sum of squares.
21. Initialism of Segawa syndrome.
23. (textiles) Initialism of side seam.
25. (fashion) Initialism of spring/summer, often followed by a year.

    SS23 collection

    Coordinate terms: AW (“autumn/winter”), FW (“fall/winter”)

Proper noun

SS

1. Initialism of Schutzstaffel; from German SS.
   • 2024 March 25, Andrew Roth, Pjotr Sauer, “Russia lauding torture was unthinkable – now it is proud to do so”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 April 2024:

     The officer who cut off Rachabalizoda’s ear had military patches including a far-right Totenkopf (dead person’s head) previously worn by Nazi SS units.

   • 2025 September 16, Jack Nicastro, “J.D. Vance Says 26 Percent of Young Liberals Justify Political Violence. Here's What the Data Really Say.”, in Reason‎^[2], archived from the original on 6 October 2025:

     (It's possible that at least some of the liberals who answered "yes, violence can sometimes be justified" had in mind edge cases like armed resistance by Jews against the SS, not the assassination of peaceful political pundits with whom they disagree.)

2. Initialism of Subsahara: a geographic region of Africa, constituting all countries south of the Sahara Desert.
3. (fandom slang) Initialism of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

   Synonym: SwSh

Derived terms

• RuSSian

Adjective

SS (not comparable)

1. Initialism of Subsaharan.

See also

spousal support

• alimony

submarine

• DSRV
• DSV

NATO

• CSS

Etymology 2

From Indonesian SS, initialism of Sumatra Selatan; compare SB (“West Sumatra”) and SU (“North Sumatra”).

Proper noun

SS

1. Initialism of South Sumatra: a province of Indonesia.

See also

• SS collar

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˌɛs.ˈʔɛs]
• Hyphenation: SS

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Symbol

SS (upper case SZ, occasionally ẞ, lower case ß or ss)

1. One of the official capital forms of ß (the other one is ẞ), or ss used in Swiss and Liechtenstein German, or once ſs (in Antiqua)

Noun

SS f (genitive SS, no plural)

1. abbreviation of Schutzstaffel
   • 1939, “SS marschiert in Feindesland”, Christian Jährig (music):

     SS marschiert in Feindesland, / Und singt ein Teufelslied.

     The SS is marching in enemy territories, / singing the devil's song.

2. abbreviation of Schwangerschaft

Declension

Declension of SS [sg-only, feminine]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	SS
genitive	einer	der	SS
dative	einer	der	SS
accusative	eine	die	SS

Alternative forms

(Schutzstaffel):

• SS.

Derived terms

(Schutzstaffel):

• Reichsführer SS, Reichsführer-SS (RFSS)
• SS-Angehöriger
  • ODESSA
• SSler
• SS-Mann
• SS-Offizier
• Waffen-SS

(Schwangerschaft):

• SS-Woche (Schwangerschaftswoche)

Noun

SS n

1. abbreviation of Sommersemester

Coordinate terms

• WS (Wintersemester)

See also

(Schutzstaffel):

• SA
• Dutch: SS'er

Further reading

• “SS”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[3] (in German)
• “SS” in Duden online

Japanese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sa̠ido̞sɨto̞ːɾʲiː]

Noun

SS(サイドストーリー) • (saidosutōrī) 

1. abbreviation of サイドストーリー