SAMEKH

[ס] (saʹmekh).

The 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Saʹmekh represents the sound that the Ephraimites used when endeavoring to pronounce the word “shibboleth,” which begins with the letter shin (שׁ) rather than with saʹmekh. (Jg 12:6; see also SIN, SHIN.) In the Hebrew, saʹmekh is the initial letter in each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:113-120.