Wiktionary

B

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

B U+0042, B
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B
← A
[U+0041] 		Basic Latin C →
[U+0043]
Character variations
Ｂ U+FF22, Ｂ
FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B
← Ａ
[U+FF21] 		Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms Ｃ →
[U+FF23]
𝕭 U+1D56D, 𝕭
MATHEMATICAL BOLD FRAKTUR CAPITAL B
← 𝕬
[U+1D56C] 		Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols 𝕮 →
[U+1D56E]
Languages (59)
Translingual • English
Afar • Afrikaans • Angami • Azerbaijani • Basque • Blagar • Catalan • Central Franconian • Central Mazahua • Chinese • Chipewyan • Czech • Dutch • Elfdalian • Esperanto • Estonian • Even • Finnish • French • Galician • German • Heiltsuk • Hungarian • Icelandic • Ido • Indonesian • Irish • Italian • Itelmen • Kalo Finnish Romani • Kashubian • Kildin Sami • Latin • Latvian • Malay • Maltese • Norwegian Bokmål • Nupe • Polish • Portuguese • Romani • Romanian • Saanich • Scottish Gaelic • Silesian • Skolt Sami • Slovene • Somali • Spanish • Swedish • Tagalog • Tundra Nenets • Turkish • Vietnamese • Welsh • Yoruba • Zulu
Page categories

Translingual

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Etymology 1

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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.

Letter

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B (lower case b)

  1. The second letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
Usage notes
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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/).

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Etymology 2

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Symbol

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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. (linguistics) low tone (e.g. in French-language text)
  8. (finance) Long-term bond credit rating by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, indicating that a bond is highly speculative with high risk of default.
  9. (clothing) Bra cup size.
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  • Letter styles
  •  
    Uppercase and lowercase versions of B, in normal and italic type
  •  
    Uppercase and lowercase B in Fraktur
  •  
    B in uncial script

See also

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  • (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 reading

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

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

Letter

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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.
    • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
      Boxer could not get beyond the letter D. He would trace out A, B, C, D, in the dust with his great hoof […]
Usage notes
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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 also
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Number

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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 2

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From abbreviations of various terms beginning with or containing the letter ‘B’.

  • (billion): abbreviation of billion
  • (cricket): abbreviation of balls
  • (bitch): abbreviation of bitch

Noun

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B (usually uncountable, plural Bs)

  1. 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)
  2. (British) The grade of pencil, “black”, that makes darker marks than grade HB but lighter marks than grade 2B; a pencil with soft lead.
  3. (chess) Bishop.
  4. (cricket) The number of balls faced by a batsman.
  5. (music) Bass.
  6. (euphemistic, countable) Bitch.
    • 2011 December 25, Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, Linda L. Shaw, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Second Edition, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 99:
      [quoting an ethnographer’s account:] He then called me a “dumb B” and hung up the phone. Meredith pauses, looks at Graciela, and says, “Okay, I need you to be as specific as you can, so that means you’re going to have to tell me what he called you, exactly.” […] Graciela grabs the pen and writes down, “Dumb Bitch.” […] Robert then arrived at my house that day to see our son and upon leaving said, “I’ll see you in court you Dumb B.”
    • 2016 May 23, Caron Lipman, Co-habiting with Ghosts: Knowledge, Experience, Belief and the Domestic Uncanny, Routledge, →ISBN, page 179:
      And then he looked again and she wasn’t there. So he probably thought, ‘Stupid B’. You know.
  7. (chiefly African-American Vernacular, MLE) Abbreviation of blood and blud: used to address a friend, especially a male.[1]
    Alternative form: b
    • 2018 October 8, Ruby Bloom, “What your favourite social media says about you”, in The Tab‎[2]:
      You’re a fuckboy whose most used phrase is, "wag one b, wys?"[.] Pulling girls at Gravity Monday is the highlight of your week. You constantly send selfies flexing your muscles and showing off your ‘six pack.’
  8. (immunology, countable) A B cell.
    • 2020 May 2, “Leaving lockdown means understanding immune responses to the virus”, in The Economist‎[3]:
      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.

Symbol

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B

  1. (computing) byte
Derived terms
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Translations
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See B/translations § English.
See also
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  • (computing): b (bit)

Suffix

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B

  1. (stenoscript) A suffix ending in -ble, optionally with a preceding vowel (-ible, -able).
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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From the use of the letter ‘B’ as an arbitrary label among other letter labels.

  • (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

Noun

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B (plural Bs)

  1. A personality type describing people who are relaxed and easygoing and able to engage in leisure activities without worrying about work.
  3. An academic grade, better than a C and worse than an A.
  4. 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, […]
  5. The alternate or secondary part, such as the back side of a phonograph record. Contrasted with ‘A’, which is the primary part.
  7. (music) The seventh note in the C major scale.
Usage notes
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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.
Translations
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See B/translations § English.
See also
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Etymology 4

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Possibly a contraction of BCPL (“Basic Combined Programming Language”), the name of a programming language from which B was derived. Dennis Ritchie (a coworker of B’s designer, Ken Thompson) speculated that B might be based on Bon (the name of an earlier, but unrelated, programming language that Thompson designed for use on Multics), itself either from Bonnie (the name of Thompson’s wife) or “(according to an encyclopedia quotation in its manual), after a religion whose rituals involve the murmuring of magic formulas”.[2]

Proper noun

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B

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

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ “B n.5”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
  2. ^ Dennis M[acAlistair] Ritchie (1993 March) “The Development of the C Language”, in ACM SIGPLAN Notices, volume 28, number 3, →DOI, pages 201–208:
    Its name most probably represents a contraction of BCPL, though an alternate theory holds that it derives from Bon [Thompson 69], an unrelated language created by Thompson during the Multics days. Bon in turn was named either after his wife Bonnie or (according to an encyclopedia quotation in its manual), after a religion whose rituals involve the murmuring of magic formulas.

Afar

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Letter

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B

  1. The second letter in the Afar alphabet.

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Afrikaans

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Pronunciation

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  • (letter name): IPA(key): /bɪə/

Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Noun

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

  1. B

Angami

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Letter

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B

  1. The thirty-first letter of the Angami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

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Azerbaijani

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Letter

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B upper case (lower case b)

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

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Basque

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Blagar

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Letter

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B

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

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Central Franconian

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Letter

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B

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

Usage notes

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Doubling of B and use in the syllable coda
  • In the German-based spelling, b is doubled after short vowels except in certain function words and when the letter is followed by another consonant within the word stem. In the syllable coda, the choice between b and p may be based on internal analogy, but more often follows the German cognate.
  • In the Dutch-based spelling, b is doubled after short vowels if the syllable were otherwise open. In the syllable coda, internal analogy prevails.

Central Mazahua

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

  1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Chinese

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Etymology 1

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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B

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

Etymology 2

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Short for BB (bi1-4 bi1, “baby”), from English baby.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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B

  1. (Cantonese) baby (Classifier: 個／个 c)
    喂，睇住個B啊！ [Cantonese, trad.]
    喂，睇住个B啊！ [Cantonese, simp.]
    wai3, tai2 zyu6 go3 bi1 aa3! [Jyutping]
    Hey, look after the baby!
  2. (Cantonese) Used to call somebody affectionately.
Synonyms
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Dialectal synonyms of 嬰兒 (“baby; infant”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 嬰
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 嬰兒, 嬰孩
Northeastern Mandarin Beijing 嬰孩兒
Taiwan 嬰兒, 寶寶
Singapore 嬰兒
Central Plains Mandarin Luoyang 娃娃
Wanrong 胎娃
Xuzhou 小毛娃兒
Southwestern Mandarin Chengdu 奶娃兒, 奶娃子, 奶娃娃
Wuhan 毛頭伢, 毛頭, 毛毛伢, 毛毛, 伢伢
Guiyang 嫩娃娃
Kunming 小每每, 小咕奶兒
Jianghuai Mandarin Nanjing 小毛娃, 毛娃, 小寶寶
Cantonese Guangzhou 蘇蝦仔, 蘇蝦, 𤘅孲仔, BB仔, BB, 阿蝦, 臊妹, 嫩蚊仔
Hong Kong BB仔, BB, B, 蘇蝦仔, 蘇蝦, 𤘅孲仔, 蝦仔
Macau BB仔
Guangzhou (Conghua) 蘇蝦仔
Taishan 毛蝦
Dongguan 蘇蝦仔, BB, BB仔
Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu) 蘇蝦仔, 𤘅孲仔, BB仔, BB
Singapore (Guangfu) 蘇蝦
Gan Nanchang 毛伢子
Lichuan 毛伢崽
Pingxiang 毛毛仔
Hakka Meixian 孲𤘅仔, 孲𤘅
Xingning 孲𤘅哩
Huidong (Daling) 孲𤘅仔
Shaoguan (Qujiang) 孲𤘅子
Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang) 嫩仔
Changting 孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
Wuping 孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
Wuping (Pingyu) 蝦毛子
Liancheng 孲𤘅子
Yudu 伢人子, 毛伢子
Ruijin 孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
Shicheng 赤伢
Shangyou (Shexi) 伢毛子
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 孲𤘅仔
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) 孲𤘅仔
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) 孲𤘅, 孲𤘅仔
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) 孲𤘅
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) 孲𤘅仔, 孲𤘅
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) 阿佅, 嬰仔
Hong Kong 孲𤘅仔
Huizhou Jixi 細妹
Jin Taiyuan 小娃娃
Xinzhou 小娃子
Northern Min Jian'ou 𤘅仔
Eastern Min Fuzhou 兒囝囝
Southern Min Xiamen 嬰仔, 幼囝
Quanzhou 嬰仔, 幼囝
Jinjiang 幼囝
Yongchun 嬰囝
Zhangzhou 嬰仔, 嬰哥, 紅嬰仔, 紅嬰, 幼囝
Taipei 嬰仔
New Taipei (Sanxia) 紅嬰
Kaohsiung 紅嬰仔
Yilan 紅嬰仔
Changhua (Lukang) 紅嬰仔
Taichung 紅嬰仔
Tainan 紅嬰仔
Hsinchu 紅嬰仔
Kinmen 嬰仔
Singapore (Hokkien) 嬰仔, 尾咪, 細囝
Manila (Hokkien) 嬰仔
Guilin (Biyange) 毛毛崽
Shantou 孥囝
Jieyang 伲伲, 阿伲, 阿伲囝, 阿孥, 孥, 擁噯
Singapore (Teochew) anak
Leizhou 儂
Haikou 囝, 儂 intimate
Zhongshan Min Zhongshan (Sanxiang) 丫囝
Southern Pinghua Nanning (Tingzi) 娃娃
Wu Shanghai 小毛頭, 小小囡, 毛毛頭
Shanghai (Chongming) 小小囡
Suzhou 小毛頭, 毛毛頭, 血泡泡
Danyang 小毛毛, 毛毛
Hangzhou 小毛頭兒, 小毛頭, 毛頭兒, 毛毛頭
Ningbo 奶花, 小毛頭, 毛頭奶花, 孲𤘅, 抱手
Wenzhou 娒兒, 娒娒兒
Jinhua 王男
Xiang Changsha 毛毛, 毛毛它, 毛它
Loudi 毛毛唧, 毛毛
Compounds
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Etymology 3

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

Pronunciation 1

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Note: boi1 - Hong Kong.
Letter
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B

  1. The second letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

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Letter
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B

  1. The second letter used in Pinyin.
Usage notes
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  • 《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).

Chipewyan

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Pronunciation

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  1. IPA(key): /p/

Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

Czech

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B

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

See also

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Noun

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B

  1. (music) B flat

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Elfdalian

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Alternative forms

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  • ᛒ (Dalecarlian runes)

Letter

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B (upper case B, lower case b)

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

Esperanto

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Estonian

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Pronunciation

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

Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Even

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Letter

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B (lower case ʙ)

  1. (obsolete) A letter of the Unified Northern Alphabet.

Finnish

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Etymology

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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.

Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Usage notes

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  • Used only in loanwords.

Derived terms

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compounds

See also

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Noun

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B

  1. Abbreviation of lubenter approbatur.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of b (“B flat (musical note)”)

French

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Galician

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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German

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Noun

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B n (strong, genitive B, no plural)

  1. (music) B-flat

Declension

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Declension of B [sg-only, neuter, strong]
singular
indef. def. noun
nominative ein das B
genitive eines des B
dative einem dem B
accusative ein das B

See also

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  • H (“B (musical note)”)

Heiltsuk

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

See also

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Hungarian

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Alternative forms

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  • b (in music)

Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Declension

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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

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Compound words

See also

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Further reading

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  • (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 Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Icelandic

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

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Ido

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

See also

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Indonesian

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

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Irish

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Italian

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Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Pronunciation

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

Letter

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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 also

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Itelmen

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Letter

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B (lower case ʙ)

  1. (obsolete) A letter of the Unified Northern Alphabet.

Kalo Finnish Romani

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kimmo Granqvist (2011) “Aakkoset”, in Lyhyt Suomen romanikielen kielioppi‎[1] (in Finnish), Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten keskus, →ISBN, →ISSN, retrieved February 6, 2022, pages 1-2

Kashubian

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Etymology

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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

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Kildin Sami

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Letter

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B (lower case ʙ)

  1. (obsolete) A letter of the Unified Northern Alphabet.

Latin

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

  1. A letter in the Latin alphabet, representing the sound /b/

See also

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Latvian

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Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

Etymology

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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

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Letter

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B

B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Malay

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Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation

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

Letter

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B

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

See also

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Maltese

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Norwegian Bokmål

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

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

See also

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Noun

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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
  3. Denoting the second, or number two, on a scale, order or degree.
    B-post, B-lag, blodtype B, energiklasse B ― B-post, B-team, blood type B, energy class B
    øl i klasse B ― beer with 0.7–2.75 volume percent alcohol
    førerkort klasse B ― driving license class B
    plan B ― plan B
    • 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
  4. the second highest grade in a school or university using the A-F scale
    få B til eksamen
    receive an B on an exam
    • 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
  5. (music) the tone h lowered by half a step
    B-dur og B-moll
    B major and B minor
    stemt i B ― tuned so that a C on the instrument sounds like B in the normal scale
    • 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
  6. (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
  7. Abbreviation of bass (“bass”).
  8. (physics) symbol for bel (“bel”)
  9. (chemistry) symbol for bor (“boron”)

References

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Anagrams

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Nupe

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Polish

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Etymology

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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

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Portuguese

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Romani

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

  1. The fourth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called be or bî and written in the Latin script.
See also
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Etymology 2

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Proper noun

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B

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

Saanich

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B

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

See also

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Scottish Gaelic

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower 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

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Silesian

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Etymology

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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

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Skolt Sami

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (lower case b)

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

See also

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Slovene

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Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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

Letter

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

Symbol

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B

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

Noun

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B m inan

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

Inflection

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  • 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

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See also

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Further reading

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  • “B”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Somali

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B upper case (lower case b)

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

Usage notes

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

See also

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Spanish

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

Derived terms

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See also

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Swedish

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Etymology

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Likely from B movies in (sense 2).

Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

  1. the second letter of the Swedish alphabet

Symbol

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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

Adjective

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B

  1. indication of being of lesser rank, less successful
    Antonym: A
  3. (colloquial) low-quality, shoddy, bad
    Dialogen i filmen är rätt B
    The dialogue in the movie is pretty janky

Derived terms

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Noun

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B

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

Tagalog

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Etymology

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Borrowed 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 ᜊ (ba).

Pronunciation

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  • (Standard Tagalog)
    • IPA(key): /ˈbi/ [ˈbi] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
      • Rhymes: -i
    • IPA(key): /ˈbe/ [ˈbɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
      • Rhymes: -e
    • IPA(key): /ˈba/ [ˈba] (letter name, Abakada alphabet)
      • Rhymes: -a
    • IPA(key): /b/ [b] (phoneme)

Letter

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

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

Letter

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

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

See also

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Further reading

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  • “B”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Tundra Nenets

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Letter

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B (lower case ʙ)

  1. (obsolete) A letter of the Unified Northern Alphabet.

Turkish

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Vietnamese

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Pronunciation

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  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɓe˧˧], [ʔɓe˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩], [ʔɓəː˨˩]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɓej˧˧], [ʔɓej˧˧ ʔɓɔ˦˩], [ʔɓəː˦˩]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɓej˧˧], [ʔɓej˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩], [ʔɓəː˨˩]
  • Phonetic spelling: bê, bê bò, bờ

Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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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.

Mutation

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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 also

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Further reading

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  • 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

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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Zulu

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Letter

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B (upper case, lower case b)

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

See also

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