It was also used in the Latin script for the Abkhaz language representing the voiced retroflex fricative (IPA: [ʐ]). It represents the same sound in the Polish alphabet, remaining in active usage by some as an alternative for the letter Ż (called "Z with overdot"). However, only the latter glyph is considered standard and is taught in Polish schools to children.
It is sometimes used as the form for the standard Z to distinguish it from the numeral ⟨two 2⟩.
The Wolfsangel symbol was an early 15th-century symbol of Germanic liberty and freedom that also appears as a mason's mark and was also used as a German medieval forestry boundary marker.[1] The Wolfsangel symbol uses the mostly, but not exclusively, reversed ⟨Ƶ⟩ character in both horizontal and vertical forms, and in heraldry, the vertical form is associated with a Donnerkeil (or "thunderbolt").[2]
In World War 2, the Wolfsangel symbol was appropriated into Nazi symbolism by both military and non-military groups and now remains listed as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League database.[1][3] In 2020, a trend started of Generation Z users of TikTok tattooing a "Generation Ƶ" symbol on their arm as "a symbol of unity in our generation but also as a sign of rebellion" (in the manner of the 15th-century Germanic peasant's revolts), however, the originator of the trend renounced it when the appropriation of the symbol by the Nazis was brought to her attention.[4]
Far-right movements in Ukraine like the former Social-National Assembly and the Azov Battalion have used a 90-degree rotated ⟨Ƶ⟩ symbol with an elongated center stroke for the political slogan "National Idea" (Ukrainian: Ідея Нації), where the symbol is a combination of the letters ⟨N⟩ and ⟨I⟩. They deny any connection with Nazism, or with the Wolfsangel symbol.[5][6]
In video games, ⟨Ƶ⟩ has been used as a fictional currency symbol, particularly in Japanese games where it can stand for zeni (Japanese for "money"). The Dragon Ball franchise, as well as Capcom games, use ⟨Ƶ⟩ in this way. It can also be found in the games EVE Online and Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, where it stands for, respectively, the "Interstellar Kredit" (ISK) and the "Osean Zollar".
A 45-degree rotated ⟨Ƶ⟩ forms the basis of the Gibor rune, which is a pseudo-rune (i.e. not an actual ancient rune) invented in 1902 by the 19th-century Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List, and features prominently in modern runic writing.
^Yenne, Bill (October 2010). Hitler's Master of the Dark Arts: Himmler's Black Knights and the Occult Origins of the SS. Zenith Press. p. 69. ISBN978-0760337783.
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