The title compound, C(18)H(12)S, contains a thio-phene ring which is disordered by rotation of 180° about the linking C-C bond. The site occupancies of the major and minor components of the disordered ring are 0.900 (3) and 0.100 (3), respectively. In one of these disordered components, the mol-ecule is stabilized by an intra-molecular C-H⋯S hydrogen bond. The compound was synthesized in good yield (80%) by a modified phase-transfer-catalysed condensation of fluorene with thio-phene-2-carbaldehyde.