Voiceless postalveolar fricative
This is also known as a voiceless palatal fricative /ʃ/, but not a true palatal, such as ç. In many languages, this is written as a digraph, but it's not always the case.
Germanic Languages
Anglo-Saxon
In Anglo-Saxon, the digraph sc when around a front vowel becomes /ʃ/.
Modern English
Modern English has several digraphs which can be used to form the sound /ʃ/. The most basic form is the spelling sh. However, there are others spellings. The digraph ch is used as /ʃ/ in words from French (such as chef and champagne). In the noun ending -tion, most of the time the initial sound is turned into a /ʃ/ ('combination, redemption, and creation). Related to that is the digraph -ti- in several words (such as initial). The last one is often the spelling ss or simple s (such as tissue, fissure, or sure). In some German loanwords, the combination sch is used.
