ऊष्म — ष
📖 Awareness
ऊष्म
जाणून घेऊया — Let’s be aware
ष
ष
sha (retroflex)
🔊 Like श but tongue curled back — retroflex “sh”
हे अक्षर खास आहे — This letter is special!
ष sounds like श but with the tongue curled back (retroflex). In everyday spoken Marathi, most people pronounce ष just like श — so when you hear “षट्कोन”, it sounds like “shatkon”. ष almost never starts common Marathi words and appears mainly in Sanskrit-origin words.
🗣️ हा आवाज कसा काढायचा — How to make the ष sound
१
Say श (sha) — tongue is near the palate. Now curl the tongue back slightly further — that gives ष!
२
In practice, most Marathi speakers say ष exactly like श. The distinction is more academic than conversational.
३
ष belongs to ऊष्म (sibilants) because it’s a hissing/friction sound — just like श and स.
🔍 ष कुठे दिसतो — Where ष appears
षट्कोनshat-kon
Hexagon — six-sided shape
कष्टkasht
Hard work / Trouble
दष्टdasht
Wicked / Evil
विषvish
Poison
💡 The most common place children encounter ष is in कष्ट (hard work) — “कष्ट करा!” — and in विष (poison) from stories. When your child sees ष, they can simply read it like श.
👨👩👧 आई / बाबांसाठी — Parent note
No need to drill ष separately. Simply reassure your child: “ष दिसला की श सारखा वाचायचा!” (When you see ष, read it like श!) This is how most Marathi speakers handle it naturally.