B U+0042, B
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B
A
[U+0041]
Basic Latin C
[U+0043]

TranslingualEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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.

LetterEdit

B (lower case b)

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

The letter B (usually its lower case form b) is used in several romanization systems of non-Latin scripts to represent the bilabial plosive or stop, usually voiced (/b/).

See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

SymbolEdit

B

  1. A blood type that has a specific antigen that aggravates the immune response in people with type A antigen in their blood. They can receive blood from type B or type O, but cannot receive blood from AB or A.
  2. (chemistry) The chemical element boron.
  3. Eleven, especially used in the base more than ten, such as duodecimal, hexadecimal, vigesimal and so on.
    The equivalent numbers of decimal 1611 are duodecimal B23, hexadecimal 64B, vigesimal 40B and so on.
  4. (biochemistry) As an IUPAC code for amino acids, aspartic acid or asparagine.
  5. (physics) A magnetic flux density.
  6. (linguistics) A wildcard for a labial consonant
  7. (finance) Long-term bond credit rating by S&P Global Ratings andFitch Ratings, indicating that a bond is highly speculative with high risk of default.
  8. (clothing) Bra cup size.

GalleryEdit

See alsoEdit

  • (blood type): from antigen B
  • (symbol for boron): abbreviation of boron
  • (hexadecimal 11): The eleventh item from the sequence {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F}

Other representations of B:

Further readingEdit

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /b/
  • (letter name) IPA(key): /biː/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iː

Etymology 1Edit

 
The b-rune ᛒ, an older version of Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᛒ, the Old English letter replaced by Latin ‘B’

Old English letter B, from 7th century replacement by Latin B of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter (B, beorc).

LetterEdit

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

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

In Modern English, the letter B is sometimes silent, e.g. in climb, and debt.

Apostrophes are sometimes used to form plurals of single upper case letters, especially at the start of a sentence:

A’s are difficult to achieve in this class.

Usually, though, the apostrophe is avoided when there is no risk of confusion:

She gets straight As in school.
See alsoEdit

NumberEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Etymology 2Edit

  • (cricket, balls): abbreviation of balls
  • (billion): abbreviation of billion
  • (black): abbreviation of black

NounEdit

B

  1. (cricket) the number of balls faced by a batsman
  2. The quantity one billion (1,000,000,000), usually used to signify a sum of money
    $2.8 B — “two point eight billion dollars” (i.e., $2,800,000,000)
  3. (Britain) The grade of pencil that makes darker marks than grade HB but lighter marks than grade 2B; a pencil with soft lead.
  4. (chess) Bishop
  5. (music) Bass.
  6. (immunology) a B cell.
    • 2020 May 2, “Leaving lockdown means understanding immune responses to the virus”, in The Economist[2]:
      Mind your Bs and Ts
      [] And if the combined efforts of macrophages, b cells and t cells are sufficient, the pathogen will be beaten back and eventually cleared from the body.

SuffixEdit

B

  1. (stenoscript) a suffix -(V)ble (-ible, -able.)
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

  • (personality type): from contrast with the letter ‘A’ and its corresponding personality type
  • (academic grade): from the position of the letter ‘B’ in the English alphabet

NounEdit

B (plural Bs)

  1. A personality type of someone who is relaxed and easygoing and able to engage in leisure activities without worrying about work.
  2. An academic grade, better than a C and worse than an A
  3. Signifies a second-tier or second class of a given commodity, group, or category, as in B-movie, B-list, etc.
    The television studio revived some of its B characters for the spinoff.
    • 1999, Michael Sauter, The Worst Movies of All Time, Or, What Were They Thinking? (page 268)
      The baddest of the Bs, then, are a rare, precious mix of jerry-built production values and jazzed-up creative juices. But that's not to say that even with a budget, a B movie can't still bounce way off the wall, []
  4. Alternate or secondary part, as the back side of a phonograph record. Contrasted with A, which is the primary part.
  5. (music) The seventh note in the C major scale.
Usage notesEdit

Apostrophes are sometimes used to form plurals of single upper case letters, especially at the start of a sentence:

A’s are difficult to achieve in this class.

Usually, though, the apostrophe is avoided when there is no risk of confusion:

She gets straight As in school.
TranslationsEdit
See alsoEdit

SymbolEdit

B

  1. (computing) byte
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
See alsoEdit
  • (computing): b (bit)

Proper nounEdit

B

  1. (computer languages) A programming language from which C is derived.

AfarEdit

LetterEdit

B

  1. The second letter in the Afar alphabet.

See alsoEdit

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /bɪə/

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

B (plural B's, diminutive B'tjie)

  1. B

AzerbaijaniEdit

LetterEdit

B upper case (lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

BasqueEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

BlagarEdit

LetterEdit

B

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

See alsoEdit

CatalanEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

Central FranconianEdit

EtymologyEdit

  • /b/ is from West Germanic stem-initial *b, in Ripuarian and northernmost Moselle Franconian also from geminated *bb.

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B

  1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
  2. A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notesEdit

ChineseEdit

Etymology 1Edit

PronunciationEdit


NounEdit

B

  1. (Mandarin, chiefly Internet slang) Alternative form of ().

Etymology 2Edit

Short for BB (bi1-4 bi1, “baby”).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

B

  1. (Cantonese) baby (Classifier: c)
    BB [Cantonese]  ―  wai3, tai2 zyu6 go3 bi1 aa3! [Jyutping]  ―  Hey, look after the baby!
SynonymsEdit
CompoundsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Cantonese boi1
Spelling pronunciation in Hong Kong, derived from English boy.

Pronunciation 1Edit


Note: boi1 - Hong Kong.
Note: Often realised as 1bi..
LetterEdit

B

  1. The second letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2Edit


LetterEdit

B

  1. The second letter used in Pinyin.
Usage notesEdit
  • 《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
  • The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).

CzechEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B

  1. B (the 2nd letter in the Czech alphabet)

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

B

  1. (music) B flat

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

EsperantoEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

EstonianEdit

 
Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia et

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

FinnishEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Usage notesEdit

  • Used only in loanwords.

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

B

  1. Abbreviation of lubenter approbatur.

GalicianEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

B n (strong, genitive B, no plural)

  1. (music) B-flat

DeclensionEdit

See alsoEdit

  • H (“B (musical note)”)

HungarianEdit

Alternative formsEdit

  • b (in music)

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

DeclensionEdit

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 termsEdit

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • (the letter and symbol): (1): 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): (2): 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
  • 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 2023)

IdoEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

IndonesianEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

ItalianEdit

 
Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

PronunciationEdit

  • (letter name) IPA(key): **/ˈbi/*
    • Rhymes: -i
  • (phonemic realization) IPA(key): /b/

LetterEdit

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

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

See alsoEdit

Kalo Finnish RomaniEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

  1. The second letter of the Kalo Finnish Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.[1]

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Kimmo Granqvist (2011), “Aakkoset [Alphabet]”, in Lyhyt Suomen romanikielen kielioppi [Consice grammar of Finnish Romani]‎[1] (in Finnish), Kotimaisten kielten keskus, →ISBN, ISSN 1796-041X, retrieved February 6, 2022, pages 1-2

LatvianEdit

 
Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

 
B

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

MalayEdit

 
Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

PronunciationEdit

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [bi]
  • (Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA(key): [b]
  • (Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA(key): [p̚]

LetterEdit

B

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

See alsoEdit

MalteseEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

Norwegian BokmålEdit

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

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

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
    • 1873, Henrik Ibsen, Kærlighedens komedie, page 14:
      [ordet «neste»] skulde ud af verden uden nåde, som b og g af Knudsens grammatik
      [the word «next»] was to come out of the world without grace, as b and g of Knudsen's grammar
  2. Denoting the second, or number two, on a scale, order or degree.
    • 2003, Espen Søbye, Kathe, alltid vært i Norge:
      øverst i oppgang b lå den nye presteboligen med åtte rom, hall, entré og kjøkken
      at the top of entrance b was the new parsonage with eight rooms, hall, entrance and kitchen
    B-post, B-lag, blodtype B, energiklasse BB-post, B-team, blood type B, energy class B
    øl i klasse Bbeer with 0.7–2.75 volume percent alcohol
    førerkort klasse Bdriving license class B
    plan Bplan B
  3. the second highest grade in a school or university using the A-F scale
    • 2019, Helene Uri, Stillheten etterpå, page 14:
      jeg har gode karakterer. Bare A-er og B-er
      I have good grades. Only A's and B's
    få B til eksamen
    receive an B on an exam
  4. (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
    B-dur og B-moll
    B major and B minor
    stemt i Btuned so that a C on the instrument sounds like B in the normal scale
  5. (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
  6. Abbreviation of bass (bass).
  7. (physics) symbol for bel (“bel”)
  8. (chemistry) symbol for bor (“boron”)

ReferencesEdit

AnagramsEdit

NupeEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

PolishEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • B in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • B in Polish dictionaries at PWN

PortugueseEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

RomaniEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

RomanianEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Etymology 2Edit

Proper nounEdit

B

  1. Abbreviation of București, the capital city of Romania.

SaanichEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B

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

See alsoEdit

Skolt SamiEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

SloveneEdit

 
Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

EtymologyEdit

From Gaj's Latin alphabet B, from Czech alphabet B, 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 /bə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German B.

PronunciationEdit

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

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower 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.

SymbolEdit

B

  1. (SNPT, not allowed to be in lower case) Phonetic transcription of sound [].

NounEdit

B m inan

  1. The name of the Latin script letter B / b.

InflectionEdit

  • 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 termsEdit

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

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

SomaliEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B upper case (lower case b)

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

Usage notesEdit

The second letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows the Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by ' and followed by T.

See alsoEdit

SpanishEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Derived termsEdit

See alsoEdit

SwedishEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

  1. the second letter of the Swedish alphabet

SymbolEdit

B

  1. (SAB) general and miscellaneous
    Meronyms: Ba, Bb, Bd, Be, Bf, Bg, Bh, Bi, Bk, Bl, Br, Bs, Bt, Bu, Bv
  2. (zoning) Area reserved for bostäder (residential etc.).
    Holonym: kvartersmark

AdjectiveEdit

B

  1. indication of being of lesser rank, less successful
    Antonym: A
  2. indication of being boring
    Synonym: tråkigt

Derived termsEdit

NounEdit

B

  1. an academic grade, better than a C and worse than an A
    Coordinate terms: A, B, C, D, E

TurkishEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

VietnameseEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • (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

LetterEdit

B (lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

WelshEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower 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.

MutationEdit

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

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • 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

YorubaEdit

PronunciationEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit

ZuluEdit

LetterEdit

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See alsoEdit