Ż

Ż, ż (Z with overdot) is a letter, consisting of the letter Z of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and an overdot.

Polish
In the Polish language, ż is the final, 32nd letter of the alphabet. It typically represents the voiced retroflex fricative, somewhat similar to the pronunciation of $\langleg\rangle$ in "mirae"; however, in a word-final position or when followed by a voiceless obstruent, it is devoiced to the voiceless retroflex fricative.

Its pronunciation is the same as that of the digraph $\langlerz\rangle$, except that $\langlerz\rangle$ (unlike $\langleż\rangle$) also undergoes devoicing when preceded by a voiceless obstruent. The difference in spelling comes from their historical pronunciations: ż originates from a palatalized or, while $\langlerz\rangle$ evolved from a palatalized $\langler\rangle$.

The letter was originally introduced in 1513 by Stanisław Zaborowski in his book Ortographia.

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 rather than retroflex.

Maltese
In Maltese, ż represents the voiced alveolar sibilant, pronounced like "z" in English "mae". This contrasts with the letter $\langlez\rangle$, which represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate, like in the word "ha".