Polish
Ż represents the voiced retroflex fricative [ʐ], similar to the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "mirage". It usually corresponds to Ж or Ž in most other Slavic languages.
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Its pronunciation is the same as the rz (digraph), the only difference being that ⟨rz⟩ evolved from a palatalized ⟨r⟩. It also sounds closer to Czech Ř.
Ż occasionally devoices to the voiceless retroflex fricative [ʂ], particularly in final position.
Ż should not be confused with ⟨Ź⟩ (or ⟨z⟩ followed by ⟨i⟩), termed "soft zh", the voiced alveolopalatal fricative ([ʑ]).
Examples of Ż
żółty (yellow)
żona (wife)
Compare ź:
źle (wrongly, badly)
źrebię (foal)
Occasionally, capital Ƶ (Z with horizontal stroke) is used instead of capital Ż for aesthetic purposes, especially in all-caps text and handwriting.
Emilian-Romagnol
Ż is used in Emilian-Romagnol to represent the voiced dental fricative [ð] (or, in some peripheral dialects, the affricates [dð~dz]), e.g. viażèr [vjaˈðɛːr] "to travel".
Kashubian
Kashubian ż is a voiced fricative like in Polish, but it is postalveolar ([ʒ]) rather than retroflex.
Maltese
In Maltese ż is pronounced like "z" in English "maze".