Polish

In the Polish language, ż is the final, 32nd letter of the alphabet. It typically represents the voiced retroflex fricative ([ʐ]), somewhat similar to the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "mirage"; however, in a word-final position or when followed by a voiceless obstruent, it is devoiced to the voiceless retroflex fricative ([ʂ]).

Its pronunciation is the same as that of the digraph ⟨rz⟩, except that ⟨rz⟩ (unlike ⟨ż⟩) also undergoes devoicing when preceded by a voiceless obstruent. The difference in spelling comes from their historical pronunciations: ż originates from a palatalized /ɡ/ or /z/, while ⟨rz⟩ evolved from a palatalized ⟨r⟩.^[1]

The letter was originally introduced in 1513 by Stanisław Zaborowski in his book Ortographia.^[2]

Occasionally, the letter Ƶ ƶ (Z with a horizontal stroke) is used instead of Ż ż for aesthetic purposes, especially in all-caps text and handwriting.

Kashubian

Kashubian ż is a voiced fricative like in Polish, but it is postalveolar ([ʒ]) rather than retroflex.

Maltese

In Maltese, ż represents the voiced alveolar sibilant [z], pronounced like "z" in English "maze". This contrasts with the letter ⟨z⟩, which represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate [ts], like in the word "hats".