b

See also: B and Appendix:Variations of "b"

b	U+0062, b LATIN SMALL LETTER B

← a
[U+0061]

Basic Latin

c →
[U+0063]

ｂ	U+FF42, ｂ FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER B

← ａ
[U+FF41]

Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms

ｃ →
[U+FF43]

Translingual

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA (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)

The second letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

b

(IPA) A voiced bilabial plosive, a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages.
(physics) A bottom quark.
(music) Alternative form of ♭ (“flat”)

Usage notes

The letter b is used in several romanization systems to represent the bilabial plosive or stop, usually voiced (/b/), including Cyrillic б (b, “be”), Zhuyin fuhao ㄅ, and Korean jamo ㅂ (b, “bieup”).

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

References

William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “b”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume I (A–C), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.

English

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/ (see also Pronunciation under Translingual)
(letter name) IPA^(key): /biː/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
(letter name) Rhymes: -iː
(letter name) Homophones: be, bee, Bea

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B, plural bs or b's)

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

Usage notes

In Modern English, the letter b is sometimes silent, as when final after m, in climb, lamb, limb, tomb, thumb, and in a few other cases, such as debt and doubt. In most of these cases b is a modern graphic insertion, and was never pronounced (in the English forms); see limb, thumb, debt, and doubt.[1]

Number

b (lower case, upper case B)

The ordinal number second, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called bee and written in the Latin script.

Adjective

b (not comparable)

Alternative form of b. (“born”)

Symbol

b

(astronomy) latitude in the galactic coordinate system
(physics) barn
(computing) bit
(cricket) bye
(size) big

Derived terms

(computing): Kb, Mb, Gb, Tb, Pb, Eb
(computing): bps, b/s
(cricket): lb

Translations

in computing

Esperanto: bit (eo)

Etymology 3

Abbreviations.

(stenoscript) a single consonant /b/ in a word, or a dominant /b/ in a cluster.
(stenoscript) the sequence /biː/
(stenoscript) Abbreviation of be and inflections being, been.
(stenoscript) Abbreviation of by and homophones buy, bye.
(stenoscript) Abbreviation of but.

References

William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “b”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume I (A–C), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.

Afar

Letter

b

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

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b lower case (upper case B)

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

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /be/, [be̞]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /be/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Dutch

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /bo/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/
Audio (file)
Homophone (letter name): bo-

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Estonian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈb̥eː/, [ˈb̥eː]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Finnish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords.

Etymology 2

From German B (“B-flat”).

Noun

b

(music) B flat

Usage notes

Capitalized for the great octave or any octave below that, or in names of major keys; not capitalized for the small octave or any octave above that, or in names of minor keys.
Finnish uses the German system; B is written as h.

Declension

Declension of b (type maa)

	singular	plural
nominative	b	t
genitive	n	iden itten
partitive	tä	itä
accusative	b n	t
inessive	ssä	issä
elative	stä	istä
illative	hen	ihin
adessive	llä	illä
ablative	ltä	iltä
allative	lle	ille
essive	nä	inä
translative	ksi	iksi
instructive	–	in
abessive	ttä	ittä
comitative	–	ineen

French

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /be/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Fula

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Usage notes

Common to all varieties of Fula (Fulfulde / Pulaar / Pular).

Gothic

Romanization

b

Romanization of 𐌱

Hungarian

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The third letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called bé and written in the Latin script.
(music) B-flat, B♭ (the 11th note of the C chromatic scale)
Coordinate terms: cesz, desz, esz, fesz, gesz, asz

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	b	b-k
accusative	b-t	b-ket
dative	b-nek	b-knek
instrumental	b-vel	b-kkel
causal-final	b-ért	b-kért
translative	b-vé	b-kké
terminative	b-ig	b-kig
essive-formal	b-ként	b-kként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	b-ben	b-kben
superessive	b-n	b-ken
adessive	b-nél	b-knél
illative	b-be	b-kbe
sublative	b-re	b-kre
allative	b-hez	b-khez
elative	b-ből	b-kből
delative	b-ről	b-kről
ablative	b-től	b-ktől
non-attributive possessive - singular	b-é	b-ké
non-attributive possessive - plural	b-éi	b-kéi

Possessive forms of b
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	b-m	b-im
2nd person sing.	b-d	b-id
3rd person sing.	b-je	b-i
1st person plural	b-nk	b-ink
2nd person plural	b-tek	b-itek
3rd person plural	b-jük	b-ik

Derived terms

Compound words

B-dúr
b-moll

Icelandic

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /pjɛː/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Ido

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Italian

Noun

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

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

Latvian

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]

(file)

Letter

B

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Livonian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Lushootseed

Letter

b

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

Malay

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Maltese

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Norwegian Bokmål

The uppercase and lowercase form of the letter B.

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)

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)

the letter b, the second letter of the Norwegian alphabet
(music) the tone h lowered by half a step
- 1944, Børre Qvamme, Musikk, page 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
(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
(physics) symbol for bar (“bar”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

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)

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

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bɛ/

Letter

b (upper case B, lower case)

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Audio (BR) (file)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The fourth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called be or bî and written in the Latin script.

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (Cyrillic spelling б)

The second letter of the Serbo-Croatian alphabet (gajica), written in the Latin script.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

The third letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Etymology

From Gay's Latin alphabet b, from Czech alphabet b, from Latin b, modification of capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, which is derived from the Etruscan letter 𐌁 (b, “be”), from the Ancient Greek letter Β (B, “beta”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤁‎ (b, “bet”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓉐. Pronunciation as IPA^(key): /bə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German B.

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/, [p], [b̪]
(letter name): IPA^(key): /bə́/, /bèː/, /béː/
Audio (letter name, non-tonal) (file)
Rhymes: -ə, -eː

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The second letter of the Slovene alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The third letter of the Resian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
The second letter of the Natisone Valley dialect alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Symbol

b

(SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [b].

Noun

b m inan

The name of the Latin script letter B / b.
(linguistics) The name of the phoneme /b/.

Inflection

Overall more common

Masculine inan., soft o-stem
nom. sing.	b
gen. sing.	b-ja
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	b	b-ja	b-ji
genitive (rodȋlnik)	b-ja	b-jev	b-jev
dative (dajȃlnik)	b-ju	b-jema	b-jem
accusative (tožȋlnik)	b	b-ja	b-je
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	b-ju	b-jih	b-jih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	b-jem	b-jema	b-ji

More common when with a definite adjective

Masculine inan., no endings
nom. sing.	b
gen. sing.	b
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	b	b	b
accusative	b	b	b
genitive	b	b	b
dative	b	b	b
locative	b	b	b
instrumental	b	b	b

Derived terms

če si rekel a, reci tudi b
ƀ

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (phoneme) /b/ [β̞]
IPA^(key): (letter name) /ˈbe/ [ˈbe]
- Audio (Spain) (file)
- Rhymes: -e
- IPA^(key): (common in some countries) /ˌbe ˈlaɾɡa/ [ˌbe ˈlaɾ.ɣ̞a] (be larga)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Derived terms

cara b
por h o por b

Turkish

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Turkmen

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɓe˧˧], [ʔɓe˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩], [ʔɓəː˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɓej˧˧], [ʔɓej˧˧ ʔɓɔ˦˩], [ʔɓəː˦˩]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɓej˧˧], [ʔɓej˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩], [ʔɓəː˨˩]
Phonetic: bê, bê bò, bờ

Letter

b (upper case B)

The fourth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called bê, bê bò, or bờ and written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /biː/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /bə/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The second letter of the Welsh alphabet, called bi and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by a and followed by c.

Mutation

b at the beginning of words mutates to f in a soft mutation, to m in a nasal mutation and is unchanged by aspirate mutation, for example with the word bara (“bread”):

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
bara	fara	mara	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /bí/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The second letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called bí and written in the Latin script.

Zulu

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b

Translingual

Etymology

Pronunciation

Letter

Symbol

Usage notes

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

English

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Number

Adjective

Symbol

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 3

References

Afar

Letter

See also

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Basque

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Catalan

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Estonian

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Faroese

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Finnish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

Usage notes

Declension

French

Pronunciation

Letter

Fula

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Gothic

Romanization

Hungarian

Pronunciation

Letter

Declension

Derived terms