# B

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Second letter of the Latin alphabet

This article is about the letter of the Latin alphabet. For the similar Greek letter, see [Beta](/source/Beta). For the similar Cyrillic letter, see [Ve (Cyrillic)](/source/Ve_(Cyrillic)). For the German letter confused with "B", see [ß](/source/%C3%9F). For other uses, see [B (disambiguation)](/source/B_(disambiguation)).

For [technical reasons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(technical_restrictions)), "B#" redirects here. For B-sharp, see [B-sharp (disambiguation)](/source/B-sharp_(disambiguation)).

For [technical reasons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(technical_restrictions)), ":b" redirects here. For the emoticon, see [List of Emoticons](/source/List_of_Emoticons).

B B b Usage Writing system Latin script English alphabet ISO basic Latin alphabet Type Alphabetic Language of origin Latin language Sound values [b] [p] [β] [ɓ] [ʙ] (Adapted variations) In Unicode U+0042, U+0062 Alphabetical position 2 History Development Β β 𐌁 B b Time period unknown to present Descendants ♭ ␢ ฿ Ⓑ ⓑ ⒝ 🅱 Sisters Б В Բ բ (בּ ב ب ܒ) Other Associated graphs bv bh bp bm bf Associated numbers 2 Writing direction Left-to-right This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

ISO basic Latin alphabet AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz v t e

**B** ([minuscule](/source/Letter_case): **b**) is the second [letter](/source/Letter_(alphabet)) of the [Latin alphabet](/source/Latin_alphabet), used in the [modern English alphabet](/source/English_alphabet), the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is *[bee](/source/English_alphabet#Letter_names)* (pronounced [/ˈbiː/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-B.wav)), plural *bees*.[1][2]

It represents the [voiced bilabial stop](/source/Voiced_bilabial_stop) in many languages, including English. In some other languages, it is used to represent other [bilabial consonants](/source/Bilabial_consonant).

## History

Egyptian Pr Phoenician bēt Western Greek beta Etruscan B Latin B

The Roman ⟨B⟩ derived from the [Greek](/source/Greek_alphabet) capital [beta](/source/Beta_(letter)) ⟨Β⟩ via its [Etruscan](/source/Old_Italic_script) and [Cumaean](/source/Archaic_Greek_alphabets#Euboean) variants. The Greek letter was an adaptation of the [Phoenician](/source/Phoenician_alphabet) letter [bēt](/source/Bet_(letter)) ⟨𐤁⟩.[3] The [Egyptian](/source/Ancient_Egypt) [hieroglyph](/source/Egyptian_hieroglyphs) for the [consonant](/source/Consonant) [/b/](/source/Voiced_bilabial_plosive) had been an image of a [foot and calf](/source/Foot_(hieroglyph)) ⟨ ⟩,[4] but bēt (Phoenician for "house") was a modified form of a [Proto-Sinaitic](/source/Proto-Sinaitic_script) [glyph](/source/Glyph) ⟨ ⟩ adapted from the separate [hieroglyph Pr](/source/Pr_(hieroglyph)) ⟨ ⟩ meaning "house".[5][a] The [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_alphabet) letter [bet](/source/Bet_(letter)) ⟨[ב](/source/%D7%91)⟩ is a separate development of the [Phoenician](/source/Phoenician_alphabet) letter.[3]

By [Byzantine times](/source/Byzantine_Greek), the Greek letter ⟨Β⟩ came to be pronounced [/v/](/source/Voiced_labiodental_fricative),[3] so that it is known in [modern Greek](/source/Modern_Greek) as *víta* (still written βήτα). The [Cyrillic](/source/Cyrillic_alphabet) letter [ve](/source/Ve_(Cyrillic)) ⟨В⟩ represents the same sound, so a modified form known as [be](/source/Be_(Cyrillic)) ⟨Б⟩ was developed to represent the [Slavic languages](/source/Slavic_languages)' [/b/](/source/Voiced_bilabial_plosive).[3] (Modern Greek continues to lack a letter for the voiced bilabial plosive and transliterates such sounds from other languages using the [digraph](/source/Digraph_(orthography))/[consonant cluster](/source/Consonant_cluster) ⟨μπ⟩, *mp*.)

[Old English](/source/Old_English) was originally written in [runes](/source/Anglo-Saxon_runes), whose equivalent letter was [beorc](/source/Beorc) ⟨[ᛒ](/source/%E1%9B%92)⟩, meaning "[birch](/source/Birch)". Beorc dates to at least the [2nd-century](/source/2nd_century) [Elder Futhark](/source/Elder_Futhark), which is now thought to have derived from the [Old Italic alphabets](/source/Old_Italic_alphabets)' ⟨ [𐌁](/source/%F0%90%8C%81) ⟩ either directly or via [Latin](/source/Latin_alphabet) ⟨⟩.

The [uncial](/source/Uncial_script) ⟨⟩ and [half-uncial](/source/Half-uncial) ⟨⟩ introduced by the [Gregorian](/source/Gregorian_mission) and [Irish missions](/source/Hiberno-Scottish_mission) gradually developed into the [Insular scripts](/source/Insular_script)' ⟨⟩. These [Old English Latin alphabets](/source/Old_English_Latin_alphabet) supplanted the earlier runes, whose use was fully banned under [King Canute](/source/King_Canute) in the early 11th century. The [Norman Conquest](/source/Norman_Conquest_of_England) popularised the [Carolingian](/source/Carolingian_script) half-uncial forms which latter developed into [blackletter](/source/Blackletter) ⟨ ⟩. Around 1300, [letter case](/source/Letter_case) was increasingly distinguished, with [upper-](/source/Capitalization) and [lower-case](/source/Lower-case) B taking separate meanings. Following the advent of [printing](/source/Letterpress_printing) in the [15th century](/source/15th_century), the [Holy Roman Empire](/source/Holy_Roman_Empire) (Germany) and [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia) continued to use forms of blackletter (particularly [Fraktur](/source/Fraktur)), while England eventually adopted the [humanist](/source/Humanist_minuscule) and [antiqua](/source/Antiqua_(typeface_class)) scripts developed in [Renaissance Italy](/source/Renaissance_Italy) from a combination of Roman inscriptions and [Carolingian](/source/Carolingian_dynasty) texts. The present forms of the [English cursive](/source/Cursive#English) B were developed by the [17th century](/source/17th_century).

Late [Renaissance](/source/Renaissance) or early [Baroque](/source/Baroque) design of a B, from 1627

## Use in writing systems

Pronunciation of ⟨b⟩ by language Orthography Phonemes Catalan /b/, /p/ Standard Chinese (Pinyin) /p/ English /b/ French /b/, /p/ German /b/, /p/ Indonesian /b/, /p/ Portuguese /b/ Spanish /b/ Turkish /b/

### English

In [English](/source/English_orthography), ⟨b⟩ denotes the [voiced bilabial stop](/source/Voiced_bilabial_stop) /b/, as in *bib*. In English, it is sometimes [silent](/source/Silent_letter). This occurs particularly in words ending in ⟨mb⟩, such as *lamb* and *bomb*, some of which originally had a /b/ sound, while some had the letter ⟨b⟩ added by analogy (see [Phonological history of English consonant clusters](/source/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters#Plum-plumb_merger_and_him-hymn_merger)). The ⟨b⟩ in *debt*, *doubt*, *subtle*, and related words was added in the 16th century as an [etymological spelling](/source/Etymology), intended to make the words more like their [Latin](/source/Latin) originals (*debitum*, *dubito*, *subtilis*).

As /b/ is one of the sounds subject to [Grimm's Law](/source/Grimm's_Law), words which have ⟨b⟩ in English and other [Germanic languages](/source/Germanic_language) may find their cognates in other [Indo-European languages](/source/Indo-European_languages) appearing with ⟨bh⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨f⟩ or ⟨φ⟩ instead.[3] For example, compare the various cognates of the word [*brother*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brother). It is the [seventh least frequently used letter](/source/Letter_frequency) in the English language (after [V](/source/V), [K](/source/K), [J](/source/J), [X](/source/X), [Q](/source/Q), and [Z](/source/Z)), with a frequency of about 1.5% in words.

### Other languages

Many other languages besides English use ⟨b⟩ to represent a [voiced bilabial stop](/source/Voiced_bilabial_stop).

In [Estonian](/source/Estonian_language), [Danish](/source/Danish_language), [Faroese](/source/Faroese_language), [Icelandic](/source/Icelandic_language), [Scottish Gaelic](/source/Scottish_Gaelic) and [Mandarin Chinese](/source/Mandarin_Chinese) [Pinyin](/source/Pinyin), ⟨b⟩ does not denote a voiced consonant. Instead, it represents a voiceless /p/ that contrasts with either a [geminated](/source/Geminate) /pː/ (in Estonian) or an [aspirated](/source/Aspiration_(linguistics)) /ph/ (in Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Scottish Gaelic and Pinyin) represented by [⟨p⟩](/source/P). In [Fijian](/source/Fijian_language) ⟨b⟩ represents a [prenasalised](/source/Prenasalized_consonant) /mb/, whereas in [Zulu](/source/Zulu_language) and [Xhosa](/source/Xhosa_language) it represents an [implosive](/source/Implosive_consonant) /ɓ/, in contrast to the [digraph](/source/Digraph_(orthography)) ⟨bh⟩ which represents /b/. [Finnish](/source/Finnish_language) uses ⟨b⟩ only in [loanwords](/source/Loanword).

In many [Romance languages](/source/Romance_languages) ([Spanish](/source/Spanish_language), [Catalan](/source/Catalan_language), [European Portuguese](/source/European_Portuguese), [Galician](/source/Galician_language)), ⟨b⟩ between vowels is pronounced as a voiced bilabial fricative or approximant [[β](/source/Voiced_bilabial_fricative)]. ⟨v⟩ often represents the same phoneme, transcribed /b/ in IPA.

### Other systems

In the [International Phonetic Alphabet](/source/International_Phonetic_Alphabet), [b] is used to represent the [voiced bilabial stop](/source/Voiced_bilabial_stop) [phone](/source/Phone_(phonetics)). In phonological transcription systems for specific languages, /b/ may be used to represent a [lenis](/source/Voice_(phonetics)#Voice_and_tenseness) [phoneme](/source/Phoneme), not necessarily voiced, that contrasts with fortis /p/ (which may have greater aspiration, tenseness or duration).

## Other uses

Main article: [B (disambiguation)](/source/B_(disambiguation))

- In the [base-16](/source/Base-16) numbering system, B is a number that corresponds to the number 11 in [decimal](/source/Decimal) (base 10) counting.

- [B](/source/B_(musical_note)) is a [musical note](/source/Musical_note). In [English-speaking countries](/source/English-speaking_countries), it represents Si, the 12th note of a [chromatic scale](/source/Chromatic_scale) built on [C](/source/C_(musical_note)). In Central Europe and [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia), "B" is used to denote [B-flat](/source/B%E2%99%AD_(musical_note)) and the 12th note of the chromatic scale is denoted "H". Archaic forms of 'b', the *b quadratum* (square b, ♮) and *b rotundum* (round b, ♭) are used in [musical notation](/source/Musical_notation) as the symbols for *[natural](/source/Natural_(music))* and *[flat](/source/Flat_(music))*, respectively.

- In Contracted (grade 2) English braille, ⟨b⟩ stands for "but" when in isolation.

- In computer science, B is the symbol for [byte](/source/Byte), a unit of information storage.

- In engineering, B is the symbol for [bel](/source/Decibel), a unit of [level](/source/Level_(logarithmic_quantity)).

- In chemistry, B is the symbol for [boron](/source/Boron), a [chemical element](/source/Chemical_element).

## Related characters

### Ancestors, descendants and siblings

- 𐤁 : [Semitic](/source/Phoenician_alphabet) letter [Bet](/source/Bet_(letter)), from which the following symbols originally derive

- Β β : [Greek](/source/Greek_alphabet) letter [Beta](/source/Beta_(letter)), from which B derives

- Ⲃ ⲃ [Coptic](/source/Coptic_alphabet) letter Bēta, which derives from Greek [Beta](/source/Beta)

- В в : [Cyrillic](/source/Cyrillic) letter [Ve](/source/Ve_(Cyrillic)), which also derives from [Beta](/source/Beta)

- Б б : Cyrillic letter [Be](/source/Be_(Cyrillic)), which also derives from [Beta](/source/Beta)

- ʙ : [A small capital B](/source/%CA%99), used as the lowercase B in a number of alphabets during [romanization](/source/Romanization)

- 𐌁 : [Old Italic](/source/Old_Italic_script) B, which derives from Greek Beta

- ᛒ : [Runic](/source/Runes) letter [Berkanan](/source/Berkanan), which probably derives from [Old Italic](/source/Old_Italic_scripts) B

- 𐌱 : [Gothic](/source/Gothic_alphabet) letter bercna, which derives from Greek Beta

- [IPA](/source/International_Phonetic_Alphabet)-specific symbols related to B: [ɓ](/source/Voiced_bilabial_implosive) [ʙ](/source/Voiced_bilabial_trill) [β](/source/Voiced_bilabial_fricative) [𐞄](/source/%F0%90%9E%84)[6] [𐞅](/source/%F0%90%9E%85)[6]

- B with [diacritics](/source/Diacritic): [Ƀ](/source/%C9%83) ƀ [Ḃ ḃ Ḅ ḅ](/source/Dot_(diacritic)) [Ḇ ḇ](/source/Macron_below) [Ɓ](/source/%C6%81) ɓ ᵬ[7] ᶀ[8]

- Ꞗ ꞗ : [B with flourish](/source/B_with_flourish)

- ᴃ ᴯ B b : Barred B and various modifier letters are used in the [Uralic Phonetic Alphabet](/source/Uralic_Phonetic_Alphabet).[9]

- Ƃ ƃ : [B with topbar](/source/%C6%82)

### Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols

- ␢ : U+2422 ␢ [BLANK SYMBOL](/source/Space_(punctuation))

- ฿ : [Thai baht](/source/Thai_baht)

- ₿ : [Bitcoin](/source/Bitcoin)

- ♭: The [flat](/source/Flat_(music)) in music, mentioned above, still closely resembles lowercase b.

## Other representations

### Computing

The Latin letters ⟨B⟩ and ⟨b⟩ have [Unicode](/source/Unicode) encodings U+0042 B LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B and U+0062 b LATIN SMALL LETTER B. These are the same [code points](/source/Code_point) as those used in [ASCII](/source/ASCII) and [ISO 8859](/source/ISO_8859). There are also [precomposed character](/source/Precomposed_character) encodings for ⟨B⟩ and ⟨b⟩ with diacritics, for most of those listed [above](#Related_characters); the remainder are produced using [combining diacritics](/source/Combining_diacritic).

Variant forms of the letter have unique code points for specialist use: the [alphanumeric symbols set](/source/Mathematical_Alphanumeric_Symbols) in mathematics and science, [Latin beta](/source/Latin_beta) in linguistics, and [halfwidth and fullwidth forms](/source/Halfwidth_and_fullwidth_forms) for legacy [CJK](/source/CJK_characters) font compatibility. The Cyrillic and Greek [homoglyphs](/source/Homoglyph) of the Latin ⟨B⟩ have separate encodings: U+0412 В [CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER VE](/source/Ve_(Cyrillic)) and U+0392 Β [GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA](/source/Beta).

### Other

NATO phonetic Morse code Bravo ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ⓘ

Signal flag Flag semaphore American manual alphabet (ASL fingerspelling) British manual alphabet (BSL fingerspelling) Braille dots-12 Unified English Braille

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** It also resembles the [hieroglyph for /h/](/source/Reed_shelter_(hieroglyph)) ⟨ ⟩ meaning "manor" or "reed shelter".

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** "B", *Oxford English Dictionary,*2nd ed*.*, Oxford: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press), 1989

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "B", *Merriam-Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged*, 1993

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB_1878,_p._173_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB_1878,_p._173_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB_1878,_p._173_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-EB_1878,_p._173_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-EB_1878,_p._173_3-4) Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), ["B"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica,_Ninth_Edition/B), *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)*, vol. 3 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 173

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Schumann-Antelme, Ruth; Rossini, Stéphane (1998), *[Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook](/source/Illustrated_Hieroglyphics_Handbook)*, English translation by Sterling Publishing (2002), pp. 22–23, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-4027-0025-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-4027-0025-3)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Goldwasser, Orly](/source/Orly_Goldwasser) (March–April 2010), ["How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs"](https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/36/02/06), *[Biblical Archaeology Review](/source/Biblical_Archaeology_Review)*, vol. 36, Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0098-9444](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0098-9444), [archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160630075033/http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=02&ArticleID=06) from the original on 30 June 2016, retrieved 11 August 2015

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-L220252_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-L220252_7-1) Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (8 November 2020). ["L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic"](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf) (PDF).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Constable, Peter (30 September 2003). ["L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS"](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf) (PDF). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171011013938/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Constable, Peter (19 April 2004). ["L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS"](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf) (PDF). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Everson, Michael](/source/Michael_Everson); et al. (20 March 2002). ["L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS"](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf) (PDF). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.

## External links

- Media related to [B](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/B) at Wikimedia Commons

- The dictionary definition of [*B*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/B) at Wiktionary

- The dictionary definition of [*b*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b) at Wiktionary

- Giles, Peter (1911), ["B"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/B), *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*, vol. 3 (11th ed.), p. 87

v t e Latin script History Spread Romanization Roman numerals Ligatures Alphabets (list) Classical Latin alphabet ISO basic Latin alphabet Phonetic alphabets International Phonetic Alphabet X-SAMPA Spelling alphabet Letters (list) Letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet 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 Additional Latin letters Æ æ Ɑ ɑ Ʌ ʌ Ꞵ ꞵ Ð ð Ɛ ɛ Ə ə Ǝ ə Ɣ ɣ Ƣ ƣ Ɩ ɩ Ɥ ɥ Ꟛ ꟛ Ŋ ŋ Œ œ Ɔ ɔ Ɤ ɤ Kʼ ĸ Ʀ ʀ ẞ ß Ʃ ʃ Ɯ ɯ Ʊ ʊ Ꞷ ꞷ Ʋ ʋ Ƿ ƿ Ȝ ȝ ϴ θ Ʒ ʒ Ƹ ƹ Þ þ Ȣ ȣ Ꭓ ꭓ Ɂ ʔ ɂ ꟎ ʕ ꟏ ǀ ǁ ǂ ǃ ʘ ʻ ʼ Ꞌ ꞌ Ƨ ƨ Ꜫ ꜫ Ꜭ ꜭ Ƽ ƽ Ƅ ƅ 7 Letter B with diacritics Ḃḃ Ḅḅ Ḇḇ Ƀƀ Ɓɓ Ꞗꞗ ᵬ ᶀ Multigraphs Digraphs Ch Dz Dž Gh IJ Lj Ll Ly Nh Nj Ny Sh Sz Th Trigraphs dzs eau Tetragraphs ough Keyboard layouts (list) QWERTY QWERTZ AZERTY Dvorak Colemak BÉPO Neo Historical standards ISO/IEC 646 Western Latin character sets Current standards Unicode DIN 91379: Unicode subset for Europe Lists Precomposed Latin characters in Unicode Letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering List of typographical symbols and punctuation marks Diacritics Palaeography

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