Russian letter: Ж ж

The letter Ж looks like a beetle and has a sound which is close to the one that beetles make - zh.

Interestingly enough, beetle in Russian is жук, i.e. starts with the letter Ж.

Ж and Ш form a pair where Ж is voiced and Ш is voiceless.

When at the end of a word or followed by a voiceless consonant, Ж sounds more like Ш.

Ж is always hard, i.e. it does not get softened by following vowels.