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Three letters, I H S, carved as a Christian monogram.
Also known as: Christogram, IHS, Letters IHS on a grave
A christogram formed from the first letters of Jesus in Greek. Widely mis-expanded into Latin phrases — Iesus Hominum Salvator, In Hoc Signo — which are later backronyms rather than the origin.
Commonly expanded as Iesus Hominum Salvator — Jesus, saviour of mankind — or In Hoc Signo, from the Constantinian vision. Both are later Latin readings of a Greek abbreviation rather than its origin.
The Latin expansions are genuinely used devotionally and are genuinely not the derivation. Both facts belong in the record.
Adopted as the emblem of the Society of Jesus, which is why it appears with a cross above the H and three nails below in Jesuit contexts specifically.
Three capital letters — I, H and S — carved side by side, often with a cross rising from the crossbar of the H.
Both are christograms — monograms of the name or title of Christ.