ss meaning and definition in german

In alphabetic ordering, the letter ß is equivalent to the string ss (formerly sz), so aß ‎(“ate”) is sorted between Aspirin ‎(“aspirin”) and Ast ‎(“branch”), immediately after the alphabetically equivalent Ass ‎(“ace”). Additionally, the letter is never used in Swiss or Liechtenstein German, and it is always replaced by ss. So, Straße is written Strasse in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Furthermore, ß is unique among the letters of the Latin alphabet as there is no capital form, so in capitals, all instances of ß are officially written as SS. However, not all SS can be substituted back into ß.
In the orthography from 1996 the letter ß is used instead of ss after long vowels and diphthongs. The use of ß and ss was changed in the 1996 spelling reform. Before this reform ß also occurred after short vowels at the end of a word or before a consonant. Therefore a rather large number of words that used to be spelt with ß, are now spelt with ss (for example, daß has become dass). The older spelling has become rare, but is still found in the products of a few (conservative) publishing houses.