b U+0062, b
LATIN SMALL LETTER B
a
[U+0061]
Basic Latin c
[U+0063]
U+1D47, ᵇ
MODIFIER LETTER SMALL B

[U+1D46]
Phonetic Extensions
[U+1D48]
U+FF42, b
FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER B

[U+FF41]
Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms
[U+FF43]

Translingual edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

  • (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 edit

b (upper case B)

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

Symbol edit

b

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

Usage notes edit

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 , and Korean jamo (b, bieup).

Gallery edit

See also edit

Other representations of B:

References edit

  1. ^ 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.

Further reading edit

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

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

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

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]

See also edit

Number edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Etymology 2 edit

Adjective edit

b (not comparable)

  1. Abbreviation of born.
    Alternative form: b.

Symbol edit

b

  1. (astronomy) latitude in the galactic coordinate system
  2. (physics) barn
  3. (computing) bit
  4. (cricket) bye
  5. (size) big
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

See also edit

  • (astronomy): (galactic longitude)
  • (computing): B (byte)

Etymology 3 edit

Abbreviations.

Verb edit

b

  1. (text messaging) Abbreviation of be.
    ima prolly b at home tn
    • 2020 February 27, u/Sneasel_, “adding everyone!”, in Reddit[1], r/friendsafari, archived from the original on 11 November 2023:
      i am looking for any safari i am trying to fill my dex and it would b rly nice :D especially fire,ice, flying, since i don't a lot of those but everyone is welcome to add me :DD
    • 2021 October 27, @heluvstat, Twitter[2], archived from the original on 11 November 2023:
      if u aren't tryna b like this don't hmu
    • 2023 October 27, u/electriccitydrive, “How do I become obsessed with studying”, in Reddit[3], r/GetStudying, archived from the original on 11 November 2023:
      I wanna b like those girls who study NON STOP and are basically addicted to studying, any tips?
    • 2023 November 6, @1tyreece, Twitter[4], archived from the original on 11 November 2023:
      school pizza party pizza b like

Symbol edit

b

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

References edit

  1. ^ 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.

Afar edit

Letter edit

b

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

See also edit

Azerbaijani edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b lower case (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Basque edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Catalan edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Central Mazahua edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

  1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Chipewyan edit

Pronunciation edit

  1. IPA(key): /p/

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

Dutch edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Esperanto edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Estonian edit

 b on Estonian Wikipedia

Pronunciation edit

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

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Noun edit

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

Declension edit

Declension of b (ÕS type 26i/idee, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative b- b-d
accusative nom.
gen. b-
genitive b-de
partitive b-d b-id
b-sid
illative b-sse b-desse
b-isse
inessive b-s b-des
b-is
elative b-st b-dest
b-ist
allative b-le b-dele
b-ile
adessive b-l b-del
b-il
ablative b-lt b-delt
b-ilt
translative b-ks b-deks
b-iks
terminative b-ni b-deni
essive b-na b-dena
abessive b-ta b-deta
comitative b-ga b-dega

(music):

Declension of b (ÕS type 26i/idee, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative b' b'd
accusative nom.
gen. b'
genitive b'de
partitive b'd b'id
b'sid
illative b'sse b'desse
b'isse
inessive b's b'des
b'is
elative b'st b'dest
b'ist
allative b'le b'dele
b'ile
adessive b'l b'del
b'il
ablative b'lt b'delt
b'ilt
translative b'ks b'deks
b'iks
terminative b'ni b'deni
essive b'na b'dena
abessive b'ta b'deta
comitative b'ga b'dega

References edit

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

Faroese edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Finnish edit

Etymology 1 edit

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.

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Finnish alphabet, called bee and written in the Latin script.
Usage notes edit
  • Used only in loanwords.
See also edit

Etymology 2 edit

German musical notation.

Noun edit

b

  1. (music) B flat
Usage notes edit
  • 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 edit

French edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Fula edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Usage notes edit

See also edit

Gothic edit

Romanization edit

b

  1. Romanization of 𐌱

Hungarian edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Declension edit

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 edit

Compound words

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • (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 (), defined at 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 Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Icelandic edit

Pronunciation edit

  • (letter name) IPA(key): /pjɛː/

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Ido edit

Pronunciation edit

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

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Indonesian edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Italian edit

Noun edit

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.

Kashubian edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Latvian edit

 
Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

Etymology edit

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 edit

(file)

Letter edit

 
B

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Livonian edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Lushootseed edit

Letter edit

b

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

Malay edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Maltese edit

Pronunciation edit

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

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Norwegian Bokmål edit

 
Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nb
 
The uppercase and lowercase form of the letter B.

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

Noun edit

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)

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

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.
  2. (music) B-flat

Nupe edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Polish edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B, lower case)

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

See also edit

Portuguese edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Romani edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Romanian edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Scottish Gaelic edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by a and followed by c. Its traditional name is beith (birch).

See also edit

Serbo-Croatian edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (Cyrillic spelling б)

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

See also edit

Silesian edit

Etymology edit

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

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Skolt Sami edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Slovene edit

 
Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology edit

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 edit

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /b/, [p], [b̪]
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /bə́/, /bèː/, /béː/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: , -eː

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Symbol edit

b

  1. (SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [b].

Noun edit

b m inan

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

Inflection edit

  • Overall more common
 
The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
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 edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • b”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Spanish edit

Pronunciation edit

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

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Derived terms edit

Swedish edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Noun edit

b

  1. (slang) Abbreviation of brunt (hashish).

See also edit

References edit

Tagalog edit

Etymology edit

From Spanish b. Each pronunciation has a different source:

  • Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English b.
  • Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish b.
  • Abakada alphabet pronunciation is influenced by Baybayin character (ba).

Pronunciation edit

  • Hyphenation: b
  • (letter name, Filipino alphabet): IPA(key): /bi/, [bɪ]
  • (letter name, Abecedario): IPA(key): /be/, [bɛ]
  • (letter name, Abakada alphabet): IPA(key): /ˈba/, [ˈbɐ]
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /b/, [b]
  • Rhymes: -i, -e, -a

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B, Baybayin spelling ᜊᜒ)

  1. The second letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Filipino alphabet), called bi and written in the Latin script.
  2. (historical) The second letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Abecedario), called be and written in the Latin script.

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B, Baybayin spelling )

  1. The second letter of the Tagalog alphabet (Abakada alphabet), called ba and written in the Latin script.

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • b”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Turkish edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Turkmen edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Vietnamese edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (upper case B)

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

See also edit

Welsh edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. 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 edit

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.

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “b”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Yoruba edit

Pronunciation edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit

Zulu edit

Letter edit

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

See also edit