In Etruscan, the value /s/ of Greek sigma (𐌔) was maintained, while san (𐌑) represented a separate phoneme, most likely /ʃ/ "sh" (transliterated as ś).

The (angular) S-shape composed of three strokes existed as a variant of the four-stroke letter Σ already in the epigraphy of Western Greek alphabets, and the three and four strokes variants existed alongside one another in the classical Etruscan alphabet.

In other Italic alphabets (Venetic, Lepontic), the letter could be represented as a zig-zagging line of any number between three and six strokes.

The minuscule form ſ, called the long s, developed in the early medieval period, within the Visigothic and Carolingian hands, with predecessors in the half-uncial and cursive scripts of Late Antiquity.

It remained standard in western writing throughout the medieval period and was adopted in early printing with movable types.

His edition of Shakespeare, in 1785, was advertised with the claim that he "ventured to depart from the common mode by rejecting the long 'ſ' in favor of the round one, as being less liable to error....."[5] The Times of London made the switch from the long to the short s with its issue of 10 September 1803.

Encyclopædia Britannica's 5th edition, completed in 1817, was the last edition to use the long s. In German orthography, long s was retained in Fraktur (Schwabacher) type as well as in standard cursive (Sütterlin) well into the 20th century, until official use of that typeface was abolished in 1941.

[6] The ligature of ſs (or ſz) was retained; however, it gave rise to the Eszett ⟨ß⟩ in contemporary German orthography.

In several Western Romance languages, like Spanish and French, the final ⟨s⟩ is the usual mark of plural nouns.