b

Etymology

Modification of capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, from the Greek letter Β (“Beta”).

Pronunciation

• Pronunciation of IPA [bɑː, ɑbbɑː] with the sound [b]:

  (file)

  A voiced bilabial stop is made with the lips alone, by a complete closure cutting off all exit of breath from the mouth, but with accompanying sonant vibrations of the vocal chords, the current of air necessary to produce this being driven from the lungs into the closed cavity of the mouth.^[1] The corresponding voiceless stop is p.

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The second letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

b

1. (IPA) a voiced bilabial plosive.
2. (superscript ⟨ᵇ⟩, IPA) [b]-onset (prestopping / preocclusion / preplosion), [b]-release (e.g. ⟨ɡᵇ⟩ for [ɡ͡b]), [b]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [b].
3. (physics) A bottom quark.
4. (music) Alternative form of ♭ (“flat”)

Gallery

• Letter styles
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase versions of B, in normal and italic type
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase B in Fraktur
• 
  Approximate form of Greek upper case beta, which was the source for both common variants of b in uncial script

See also

• (IPA): p (“voiceless bilabial plosive”)
• (Latin script): Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
• For more variations, see Appendix:Variations of "b".

Other representations of B:

References

Further reading

• Voiced bilabial stop on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Abbreviations.

References

Letter

b

1. The second letter of the Afar alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, T t, S s, E e, C c, K k, X x, I i, D d, Q q, R r, F f, G g, O o, L l, M m, N n, U u, W w, H h, Y y

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b lower case (upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be/, [be̞]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Basque alphabet, called be and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbe]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Catalan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɓ/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Pronunciation

1. IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. A letter of the Chipewyan alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Letter

b (uppercase B)

1. the second letter of the Danish alphabet

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː
• (letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /bo/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone (letter name): bo-

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called bo and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (letter name, bee): IPA^(key): /ˈb̥eː/, [ˈb̥eː]
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ˈb̥/, [ˈb̥]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Estonian alphabet, called bee and written in the Latin script.

Noun

b (genitive b or b', partitive b-d or b'd)

1. The letter b (the second letter of the Estonian alphabet)
2. (music) B-flat (note)

   Synonym: si-bemoll

References

• b in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “b”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The third letter of the Faroese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Etymology 1

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and b for information on the development of the glyph itself.

Etymology 2

German musical notation.

Pronunciation

• (letter name) IPA^(key): /be/

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The third letter of the Fula alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Romanization

b

1. Romanization of 𐌱

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. A letter of the Heiltsuk alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈb]
• (letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈbeː]

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The third letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called bé and written in the Latin script.
3. (music) B-flat, B♭ (the 11th note of the C chromatic scale)

   Coordinate terms: cesz, desz, esz, fesz, gesz, asz

See also

• (Latin-script letters) betű; A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, Ő ő, P p, R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v, Z z, Zs zs. Only in the extended alphabet: Q q W w X x Y y. Commonly used: ch. Also defined: à ë. In surnames (selection): ä aa cz ds eé eö ew oe oó th ts ÿ.
• B-dúr
• bé

Further reading

• (the letter): b in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (in music: “B-flat”): b in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (in music, rare): b , synonym of bé (“♭”), defined at bé in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“An Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• b in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Pronunciation

• (letter name) IPA^(key): /pjɛː/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The third letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bókstafur; A a, Á á, B b, D d, Рð, E e, É é, F f, G g, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ó ó, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, Ú ú, V v, X x, Y y, Ý ý, Þ þ, Æ æ, Ö ö

Pronunciation

• (context pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b/
• (letter name) IPA^(key): /be/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /be/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Indonesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Irish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Letter

b f or m (invariable, lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Italian alphabet, called bi and written in the Latin script.

Etymology

Borrowed from Tagalog b. Letter pronunciation is influenced by English b.

Pronunciation

• (letter) IPA^(key): /bi/ [bi̞]
  • Rhymes: -i
• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/ [b̚]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Kankanaey alphabet, called bi and written in the Latin script.

References

• Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2016) Ortograpiya di Kankanaëy [Kankanaey Orthography]‎ (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

Etymology

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and b for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The fourth letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. A letter in the Latin alphabet, representing the sound /b/

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b]

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The third letter of the Latvian alphabet, called bē and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The fifth letter of the Livonian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kēratēd̦; A a, Ā ā, Ä ä, Ǟ ǟ, B b, D d, D̦ d̦, E e, Ē ē, F f, G g, H h, I i, Ī ī, J j, K k, L l, Ļ ļ, M m, N n, Ņ ņ, O o, Ō ō, Ȯ ȯ, Ȱ ȱ, Õ õ, Ȭ ȭ, P p, R r, Ŗ ŗ, S s, Š š, T t, Ț ț, U u, Ū ū, V v, Z z, Ž ž

Letter

b

1. The third letter of the Lushootseed alphabet, pronounced as a voiced bilabial stop.

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b/
• IPA^(key): /p/ (per final devoicing or assimilation to a following voiceless obstruent)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Maltese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) ittra; A a, B b, Ċ ċ, D d, E e, F f, Ġ ġ, G g, Għ għ, H h, Ħ ħ, I i, Ie ie, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Ż ż, Z z

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. A letter of the Navajo alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b] (most dialects)
• IPA^(key): [b̥~p] (Sylt, merges with ⟨p⟩ except at the start of a word or stressed syllable)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. A letter of the North Frisian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (North Frisian letters): a, ä, å, ā, b, c, d, đ, e, ē, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ö, p, r, s, t, u, ü, v, w (q, x, y, z)

Alternative forms

• B

Etymology

Modification of the capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, from Latin B, from Etruscan 𐌁 (b, “be”), from Ancient Greek Β (B, “beta”), from the Phoenician 𐤁 (b, “bet”), from Proto-Canaanite , from Proto-Sinaitic , from Egyptian 𓉐, representing the plan of a house.

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː
• Hyphenation: b
• Homophones: B, be

Letter

b (upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Norwegian Bokmål alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

b m (definite singular b-en, indefinite plural b-er, definite plural b-ene)

1. the letter b, the second letter of the Norwegian alphabet
2. (music) the tone h lowered by half a step
   • 1944, Børre Qvamme, Musikk, pages 35–36:

     enhver tone er mangetydig, fiss er også gess, diss er ess, b er aiss og så videre

     every tone is ambiguous, fiss is also gess, diss is ace, b is aiss and so on

   • 2000, Bjørnar Pedersen og Egil Birkeland, Hillman Hunter:

     skotske sekkepiper stemmes i B

     Scottish bagpipes are tuned in B

3. (music) a B-flat (sign indicating that the following note is to be lowered by half a step)
   • 1974, Jens Bjørneboe, Haiene, page 98:

     ingen vil påstå at notebladet med nøkler, kryss og b’er er selve musikken

     no one will claim that the sheet music with keys, crosses and bs is the music itself

4. (physics) symbol for bar (“bar”)

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: be

Letter

b m (upper case B, definite singular b-en, indefinite plural b-ar, definite plural b-ane)

1. The second letter of the Norwegian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
3. (music) B-flat

Pronunciation

• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

1. The second letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Etymology

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and b for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ/

Letter

b (upper case B, lower case)

1. The third letter of the Polish alphabet, called be and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)