{{Short description|Second letter of the Latin alphabet}} {{About|the letter of the Latin alphabet|the similar Greek letter|Beta|the similar Cyrillic letter|Ve (Cyrillic)|the German letter confused with "B"|ß|other uses}} {{Technical reasons|B#|B-sharp|B-sharp (disambiguation)}} {{Technical reasons|:b|the emoticon|List of Emoticons}} {{pp-semi|small=yes}} {{pp-move|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} {{EngvarB|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox grapheme |name=B |letter=B b |variations= |script=[[Latin script]]<br>[[English alphabet]]<br>[[ISO basic Latin alphabet]] |type=[[Alphabet]] |typedesc=ic |language=[[Latin ]]language |phonemes={{flex list|[{{IPAlink|b}}]|[{{IPAlink|p}}]|{{IPAblink|β}}|[{{IPAlink|ɓ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʙ}}]}}([[#Other languages|Adapted variations]]) |unicode=U+0042, U+0062 |alphanumber=2 |number=2 |fam1=<hiero>O1</hiero> |fam2=[[Image:Proto-semiticB-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Bet]] |fam3=[[File:Proto-Canaanite - bet.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]] |fam4=[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Bet]] |fam5=[[File:Greek Beta 16.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]] |fam6=[[Beta|Β β]] |fam7=[[𐌁]] |fam8=[[File:RomanB-01.png|class=skin-invert-image|12px|B]] |fam9=[[File:UncialB-01.png|class=skin-invert-image|12px|B]] [[File:Half-uncial b.png|class=skin-invert-image|10px|b]] |usageperiod=unknown to present |children={{flex list|[[♭]]|[[␢]]|[[฿]]|[[Enclosed_Alphanumerics|<span>Ⓑ</span> <span>ⓑ</span> <span>⒝</span>]]|[[🅱]]}} |sisters={{flex list|[[Б]]|[[В]]|[[wikt:Բ|Բ]]|[[wikt:բ|բ]]|[[Bet (letter)|(<span>בּ</span> <span>ב</span> <span>ب</span> <span>ܒ</span>)]]}} |equivalents= |associates=[[Voiced bilabial affricate|bv]]<br>[[List of Latin-script digraphs#B|bh<br>bp<br>bm]]<br>[[Voiced labiodental affricate|bf]] |direction=Left-to-right |image=File:Latin_letter_B.svg |imageclass=skin-invert-image }} {{Latin letter info|b}}
'''B''' ([[Letter case|minuscule]]: '''b''') is the second [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''[[English alphabet#Letter names|bee]]'' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|b|iː|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-B.wav}}), plural ''bees''.<ref>{{citation |contribution=B |title=Oxford English Dictionary, ''2nd ed''. |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1989 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |contribution=B |title=Merriam-Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged |year=1993 }}</ref>
It represents the [[voiced bilabial stop]] in many languages, including English. In some other languages, it is used to represent other [[bilabial consonant]]s.
==History== {| class="wikitable skin-invert-image" |- ! [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]]<br>[[Pr (hieroglyph)|Pr]] ! [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] <br>[[Bet (letter)|bēt]] ! [[Western Greek alphabet|Western Greek]] <br>[[Beta (letter)|beta]] ! [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] <br>B ! [[Latin]] <br>B |- style="text-align:center;" | [[File:EgyptianB-01.svg|64px|Egyptian hieroglyphic house]] | [[File:PhoenicianB-01.svg|45px|Phoenician beth]] | [[File:Greek Beta 16.svg|50px|Greek beta]] | [[File:EtruscanB-01.svg|30px|Etruscan B]] | [[File:Capitalis monumentalis B.svg|x30px|Latin B]] |} The Roman {{angle bracket|B}} derived from the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] capital [[beta (letter)|beta]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|grc|Β}}}} via its [[Old Italic script|Etruscan]] and [[Archaic Greek alphabets#Euboean|Cumaean]] variants. The Greek letter was an adaptation of the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] letter [[bet (letter)|bēt]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|phn|𐤁}}}}.<ref name="EB 1878, p. 173">{{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=B |volume=3 |page=173 }}</ref> The [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]] for the [[consonant]] [[voiced bilabial plosive|/b/]] had been an image of a [[foot (hieroglyph)|foot and calf]] {{angle bracket| [[File:Hiero D58.png|class=skin-invert-image|10px|B]] }},<ref>{{citation |last=Schumann-Antelme |first=Ruth |author2-last=Rossini |author2-first=Stéphane |year=1998 |publisher=English translation by Sterling Publishing (2002) |title=[[Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook]] |isbn=1-4027-0025-3 |pages=22–23 }}</ref> but bēt (Phoenician for "house") was a modified form of a [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]] [[glyph]] {{angle bracket| [[Image:Proto-Canaanite - bet.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Bet]] }} adapted from the separate [[Pr (hieroglyph)|hieroglyph Pr]] {{nowrap|{{angle bracket| [[File:Egyptian-per2.PNG|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Per]] }}}} meaning "house".<ref>{{citation |last=Goldwasser |first=Orly |author-link=Orly Goldwasser |contribution=How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs |title=[[Biblical Archaeology Review]] |volume=36 |issue=No. 1 |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society |location=Washington |date=Mar–Apr 2010 |contribution-url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/36/02/06 |issn=0098-9444 |access-date=11 August 2015 |archive-date=30 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630075033/http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=02&ArticleID=06 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|It also resembles the [[Reed shelter (hieroglyph)|hieroglyph for /h/]] {{angle bracket| [[File:Hiero O4.png|class=skin-invert-image|15px|H]] }} meaning "manor" or "reed shelter".}} The [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letter [[bet (letter)|bet]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|he|[[ב]]}}}} is a separate development of the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] letter.<ref name="EB 1878, p. 173"/>
By [[Byzantine Greek|Byzantine times]], the Greek letter {{angle bracket|{{lang|grc|Β}}}} came to be pronounced [[voiced labiodental fricative|/v/]],<ref name="EB 1878, p. 173"/> so that it is known in [[modern Greek]] as ''víta'' (still written {{lang|el|βήτα}}). The [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] letter [[ve (Cyrillic)|ve]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|ru|В}}}} represents the same sound, so a modified form known as [[be (Cyrillic)|be]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|ru|Б}}}} was developed to represent the [[Slavic languages]]' [[voiced bilabial plosive|/b/]].<ref name="EB 1878, p. 173"/> (Modern Greek continues to lack a letter for the voiced bilabial plosive and transliterates such sounds from other languages using the [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]/[[consonant cluster]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|el|μπ}}}}, ''mp''.)
[[Old English]] was originally written in [[Anglo-Saxon runes|runes]], whose equivalent letter was [[beorc]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|ang|[[ᛒ]]}}}}, meaning "[[birch]]". Beorc dates to at least the [[2nd century|2nd-century]] [[Elder Futhark]], which is now thought to have derived from the [[Old Italic alphabets]]' {{angle bracket| {{lang|itc|[[𐌁]]}} }} either directly or via [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] {{angle bracket|[[File:RomanB-01.png|class=skin-invert-image|12px|B]]}}.
The [[Uncial script|uncial]] {{angle bracket|[[File:UncialB-01.png|class=skin-invert-image|12px|B]]}} and [[half-uncial]] {{angle bracket|[[File:Half-uncial b.png|class=skin-invert-image|10px|b]]}} introduced by the [[Gregorian mission|Gregorian]] and [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Irish missions]] gradually developed into the [[Insular script]]s' {{angle bracket|[[File:Insular-b.svg|class=skin-invert-image|10px|b]]}}. These [[Old English Latin alphabet]]s supplanted the earlier runes, whose use was fully banned under [[King Canute]] in the early 11th century. The [[Norman Conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] popularised the [[Carolingian script|Carolingian]] half-uncial forms which latter developed into [[blackletter]] {{angle bracket| [[File:Blackletter b.png|class=skin-invert-image|10px|b]] }}. Around 1300, [[letter case]] was increasingly distinguished, with [[capitalization|upper-]] and [[lower-case]] B taking separate meanings. Following the advent of [[Letterpress printing|printing]] in the [[15th century]], the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (Germany) and [[Scandinavia]] continued to use forms of blackletter (particularly [[Fraktur]]), while England eventually adopted the [[Humanist minuscule|humanist]] and [[Antiqua (typeface class)|antiqua]] scripts developed in [[Renaissance Italy]] from a combination of Roman inscriptions and [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] texts. The present forms of the [[Cursive#English|English cursive]] B were developed by the [[17th century]].
[[File:Newes ABC Buchlein MET DP855602.jpg|thumb|200px|center|Late [[Renaissance]] or early [[Baroque]] design of a B, from 1627]]
==Use in writing systems== {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" |+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|b}} by language ! [[Orthography]] ! [[Phoneme|Phonemes]] |- ! [[Catalan orthography|Catalan]] | {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/p/}} |- ! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]] ([[Pinyin]])}} | {{IPAslink|p}} |- ! [[English orthography|English]] | {{IPAslink|b}} |- ! [[French orthography|French]] | {{IPAslink|b}}, {{IPAslink|p}} |- ! [[German orthography|German]] | {{IPAslink|b}}, {{IPAslink|p}} |- ![[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] |{{IPAslink|b}}, {{IPAslink|p}} |- ! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]] | {{IPA|/b/}} |- ! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]] | {{IPA|/b/}} |- ! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]] | {{IPAslink|b}} |}
===English=== In [[English orthography|English]], {{angbr|b}} denotes the [[voiced bilabial stop]] {{IPA|/b/}}, as in ''bib''. In English, it is sometimes [[silent letter|silent]]. This occurs particularly in words ending in {{vr|mb}}, such as ''lamb'' and ''bomb'', some of which originally had a /b/ sound, while some had the letter {{vr|b}} added by analogy (see [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#Plum-plumb merger and him-hymn merger|Phonological history of English consonant clusters]]). The {{vr|b}} in ''debt'', ''doubt'', ''subtle'', and related words was added in the 16th century as an [[etymology|etymological spelling]], intended to make the words more like their [[Latin]] originals (''debitum'', ''dubito'', ''subtilis'').
As /b/ is one of the sounds subject to [[Grimm's Law]], words which have {{vr|b}} in English and other [[Germanic language]]s may find their cognates in other [[Indo-European languages]] appearing with {{angbr|bh}}, {{angbr|p}}, {{angbr|f}} or {{angbr|φ}} instead.<ref name="EB 1878, p. 173"/> For example, compare the various cognates of the word [[wikt:brother|''brother'']]. It is the [[Letter frequency|seventh least frequently used letter]] in the English language (after [[V]], [[K]], [[J]], [[X]], [[Q]], and [[Z]]), with a frequency of about 1.5% in words.
===Other languages===
Many other languages besides English use {{angbr|b}} to represent a [[voiced bilabial stop]].
In [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Faroese language|Faroese]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Scottish Gaelic]] and [[Mandarin Chinese]] [[Pinyin]], {{angbr|b}} does not denote a voiced consonant. Instead, it represents a voiceless {{IPA|/p/}} that contrasts with either a [[geminate]]d {{IPA|/pː/}} (in Estonian) or an [[aspiration (linguistics)|aspirated]] {{IPA|/p<sup>h</sup>/}} (in Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Scottish Gaelic and Pinyin) represented by [[p|{{vr|p}}]]. In [[Fijian language|Fijian]] {{angbr|b}} represents a [[prenasalized consonant|prenasalised]] {{IPA|/mb/}}, whereas in [[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] it represents an [[implosive consonant|implosive]] {{IPA|/ɓ/}}, in contrast to the [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] {{angbr|bh}} which represents {{IPA|/b/}}. [[Finnish language|Finnish]] uses {{angbr|b}} only in [[loanword]]s.
In many [[Romance languages]] ([[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[European Portuguese]], [[Galician language|Galician]]), {{angbr|b}} between vowels is pronounced as a voiced bilabial fricative or approximant {{IPAblink|β}}. {{angbr|v}} often represents the same phoneme, transcribed {{IPA|/b/}} in IPA.
===Other systems===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], [b] is used to represent the [[voiced bilabial stop]] [[Phone (phonetics)|phone]]. In phonological transcription systems for specific languages, /b/ may be used to represent a [[Voice (phonetics)#Voice and tenseness|lenis]] [[phoneme]], not necessarily voiced, that contrasts with fortis /p/ (which may have greater aspiration, tenseness or duration).
==Other uses== {{main|B (disambiguation)}} * In the [[base-16]] numbering system, B is a number that corresponds to the number 11 in [[decimal]] (base 10) counting. * [[B (musical note)|B]] is a [[musical note]]. In [[English-speaking countries]], it represents Si, the 12th note of a [[chromatic scale]] built on [[C (musical note)|C]]. In Central Europe and [[Scandinavia]], "B" is used to denote [[B♭ (musical note)|B-flat]] and the 12th note of the chromatic scale is denoted "H". Archaic forms of 'b', the ''b quadratum'' (square b, {{music|natural}}) and ''b rotundum'' (round b, {{music|b}}) are used in [[musical notation]] as the symbols for ''[[natural (music)|natural]]'' and ''[[flat (music)|flat]]'', respectively. * In Contracted (grade 2) English braille, {{angbr|b}} stands for "but" when in isolation. * In computer science, B is the symbol for [[byte]], a unit of information storage. * In engineering, B is the symbol for [[decibel|bel]], a unit of [[level (logarithmic quantity)|level]]. * In chemistry, B is the symbol for [[boron]], a [[chemical element]].
==Related characters== <!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->
===Ancestors, descendants and siblings=== * 𐤁 : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Bet (letter)|Bet]], from which the following symbols originally derive * Β β : [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[Beta (letter)|Beta]], from which B derives * Ⲃ ⲃ [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] letter Bēta, which derives from Greek [[Beta]] * В в : [[Cyrillic]] letter [[Ve (Cyrillic)|Ve]], which also derives from [[Beta]] * Б б : Cyrillic letter [[Be (Cyrillic)|Be]], which also derives from [[Beta]] * ʙ : [[ʙ|A small capital B]], used as the lowercase B in a number of alphabets during [[romanization]] * 𐌁 : [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] B, which derives from Greek Beta * ᛒ : [[Runes|Runic]] letter [[Berkanan]], which probably derives from [[Old Italic scripts|Old Italic]] B * 𐌱 : [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] letter bercna, which derives from Greek Beta * [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]-specific symbols related to B: {{IPA link|ɓ}} {{IPA link|ʙ}} {{IPA link|β}} [[𐞄]]<ref name="L220252">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby}}</ref> [[𐞅]]<ref name="L220252" /> * B with [[diacritic]]s: [[Ƀ]] ƀ [[Dot (diacritic)|Ḃ ḃ Ḅ ḅ]] [[Macron below|Ḇ ḇ]] [[Ɓ]] ɓ ᵬ<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|title=L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS|date=30 September 2003|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011013938/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> ᶀ<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=19 April 2004|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * Ꞗ ꞗ : [[B with flourish]] * ᴃ ᴯ <sup>B</sup> <sup>b</sup> : Barred B and various modifier letters are used in the [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=20 March 2002|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=19 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * Ƃ ƃ : [[Ƃ|B with topbar]]
===Derived ligatures, abbreviations, signs and symbols=== * ␢ : {{unichar|2422|Blank Symbol|nlink=Space (punctuation)}} * ฿ : [[Thai baht]] * ₿ : [[Bitcoin]] * ♭: The [[Flat (music)|flat]] in music, mentioned above, still closely resembles lowercase b.
==Other representations== ===Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>=== The Latin letters {{angbr|B}} and {{angbr|b}} have [[Unicode]] encodings {{unichar|0042|Latin capital letter B}} and {{unichar|0062|Latin small letter b}}. These are the same [[code point]]s as those used in [[ASCII]] and [[ISO 8859]]. There are also [[precomposed character]] encodings for {{angbr|B}} and {{angbr|b}} with diacritics, for most of those listed [[#Related characters|above]]; the remainder are produced using [[combining diacritic]]s.
Variant forms of the letter have unique code points for specialist use: the [[Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols|alphanumeric symbols set]] in mathematics and science, [[Latin beta]] in linguistics, and [[halfwidth and fullwidth forms]] for legacy [[CJK characters|CJK]] font compatibility. The Cyrillic and Greek [[homoglyph]]s of the Latin {{angbr|B}} have separate encodings: {{unichar|0412|Cyrillic capital letter Ve|nlink=Ve (Cyrillic)}} and {{unichar|0392|Greek capital letter beta|nlink=Beta}}.
===Other=== {{Letter other reps |NATO=Bravo |Morse=–··· |Character=B2 |Braille=⠃ |fingerspelling=B }}
{{clear}}
==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Commons-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline|B}} * {{Wiktionary-inline|b}} * {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |ref=none |last=Giles |first=Peter |wstitle=B |volume=3 |page=87 |short=x}}
{{Latin script|B|}}
[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]