Shri

Sri, (ʃriː; Devanagari: श्री, IAST: Śrī ʃɹiː, ɕɹiː), also transliterated as Shri or Sree or Shree, is an Indian word denoting wealth and prosperity, primarily used as a honorific. In Devanagari script for Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and other languages, the word is combination of three sounds: श् (ś), र्(r) and ई (ī, long i). There are two conventions in India to transliterate the syllable श (IAST: Śa) (i.e. श् (ś) with inherent vowel अ (a); श् (ś) + अ (a)) to English. Some uses the convention of Sa for transcribing श as in Sri Lanka and Srinagar while others use the convention of Sha for transcribing श as in Shimla and Shimoga. Neither Sa nor Sha in English could not actually reflect the pronunciation of श in Sanskrit and other Indian languages. Similarly, री (rī; र् + ई) is also transliterated to English in two different ways as ri and ree. Hence, in English, the spelling of this word श्री varies from Sri to Shree through Sree and Shri. Whatever be the transliteration, the pronunciation is same. Sanskrit is written in many Indian scripts as well, in which case there are corresponding letters which have the exact same values as the Devanagari, so the Sanskrit pronunciation remains the same regardless of script. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Indonesian, Javanese, Balinese, Sinhala, Thai, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Malay. It is transliterated as Sri, Sree, Shri, Sree, Si, or Seri based on the local convention for transliteration. Hindus use a popular "yantra", or mystical diagram, called Shri Yantra, to worship the goddess of wealth. The term is also used in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." or "Ms." in written and spoken language, but also as a title of veneration for deities; for example, the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, is known as Sree.