b - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


Article Images

Character variations

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

  • Pronunciation of IPA [bɑː, ɑbbɑː] with the sound [b]:(file)
    A voiced bilabial stop is made with the lips alone, by a complete closure cutting off all exit of breath from the mouth, but with accompanying sonant vibrations of the vocal chords, the current of air necessary to produce this being driven from the lungs into the closed cavity of the mouth.[1] The corresponding voiceless stop is p.

b (upper case B)

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

b

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

The letter b is used in several romanization systems to represent the bilabial plosive or stop, usually voiced (/b/), including Cyrillic б (“be”), Zhuyin fuhao ㄅ, and Korean jamo ㅂ (“bieup”).

  • Letter styles

  • Uppercase and lowercase versions of B, in normal and italic type

  • Uppercase and lowercase B in Fraktur

  • Approximate form of Greek upper case beta, which was the source for both common variants of b' in uncial script

Other representations of B:

  1. ^ William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “b”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes I (A–C), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

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

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

In Modern English, the letter b is sometimes silent, as when final after m, in climb, lamb, limb, tomb, thumb, and in a few other cases, such as debt and doubt. In most of these cases b is a modern graphic insertion, and was never pronounced (in the English forms); see limb, thumb, debt, and doubt.[1]

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (not comparable)

  1. Abbreviation of born.
    Alternative form: b.

b

  1. (astronomy) latitude in the galactic coordinate system
  2. (physics) barn
  3. (computing) bit
  4. (cricket) bye
  5. (size) big
  • (astronomy): ℓ (galactic longitude)
  • (computing): B (byte)

Abbreviations.

b

  1. (text messaging) Abbreviation of be.

    ima prolly b at home tn

    • 2020 February 27, u/Sneasel_, “adding everyone!”, in Reddit‎[1], r/friendsafari, archived from the original on 11 November 2023:

      i am looking for any safari i am trying to fill my dex and it would b rly nice :D especially fire,ice, flying, since i don't a lot of those but everyone is welcome to add me :DD

    • 2021 October 27, @heluvstat, Twitter‎[2], archived from the original on 11 November 2023:

      if u aren't tryna b like this don't hmu

    • 2023 October 27, u/electriccitydrive, “How do I become obsessed with studying”, in Reddit‎[3], r/GetStudying, archived from the original on 11 November 2023:

      I wanna b like those girls who study NON STOP and are basically addicted to studying, any tips?

    • 2023 November 6, @1tyreece, Twitter‎[4], archived from the original on 11 November 2023:

      school pizza party pizza b like

b

  1. (stenoscript) a single consonant /b/ in a word, or a dominant /b/ in a cluster.
  2. (stenoscript) the sequence /biː/
  3. (stenoscript) Abbreviation of be and inflections being, been.
  4. (stenoscript) Abbreviation of by and homophones buy, bye.
  5. (stenoscript) Abbreviation of but.
  1. ^ William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “b”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes I (A–C), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

b

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

b lower case (upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (upper case B)

  1. A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.
  1. IPA(key): /p/

b (upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called bo and written in the Latin script.
  • (letter name, bee): IPA(key): /ˈb̥eː/, [ˈb̥eː]
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ˈb̥/, [ˈb̥]

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (genitive b or b', partitive b-d or b'd)

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

(music):

Declension of b (ÕS type 26i/idee, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative b' b'd
accusative nom.
gen. b'
genitive b'de
partitive b'd b'id
b'sid
illative b'sse b'desse
b'isse
inessive b's b'des
b'is
elative b'st b'dest
b'ist
allative b'le b'dele
b'ile
adessive b'l b'del
b'il
ablative b'lt b'delt
b'ilt
translative b'ks b'deks
b'iks
terminative b'ni b'deni
essive b'na b'dena
abessive b'ta b'deta
comitative b'ga b'dega
  • b in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
  • “b”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

b (upper case B)

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

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.

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

German musical notation.

b

  1. (music) B flat
  • Capitalized for the great octave or any octave below that, or in names of major keys; not capitalized for the small octave or any octave above that, or in names of minor keys.
  • Finnish uses the German system; B is written as h.
singular plural
nominative b b:t
genitive b:n b:iden
b:itten
partitive b:tä b:itä
accusative b
b:n 		b:t
inessive b:ssä b:issä
elative b:stä b:istä
illative b:hen b:ihin
adessive b:llä b:illä
ablative b:ltä b:iltä
allative b:lle b:ille
essive b:nä b:inä
translative b:ksi b:iksi
abessive b:ttä b:ittä
instructive – b:in
comitative – b:ineen

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b

  1. Romanization of 𐌱

b (upper case B)

  1. A letter of the Heiltsuk alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): [ˈb]
  • (letter name): IPA(key): [ˈbeː]

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The third letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called bé and written in the Latin script.
  3. (music) B-flat, B♭ (the 11th note of the C chromatic scale)
    Coordinate terms: cesz, desz, esz, fesz, gesz, asz
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
  • (the letter): b in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • (in music: “B-flat”): b in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • (in music, rare): b , synonym of bé (“♭”), defined at bé in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“An Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • b in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).
  • (letter name) IPA(key): /pjɛː/

b (upper case B)

  1. The third letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (context pronunciation) IPA(key): /b/
  • (letter name) IPA(key): /be/

b (upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

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

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

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.

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

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.

 
B

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (upper case B)

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

b

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • IPA(key): /b/
  • IPA(key): /p/ (per final devoicing or assimilation to a following voiceless obstruent)

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Maltese alphabet, written in the Latin script.
 
The uppercase and lowercase form of the letter B.

Modification of the capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, from Latin B, from Etruscan 𐌁 (b, “be”), from Ancient Greek Β (B, “beta”), from the Phoenician 𐤁 (b, “bet”), from Proto-Canaanite  , from Proto-Sinaitic  , from Egyptian 𓉐, representing the plan of a house.

b (upper case B)

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

b m (definite singular b-en, indefinite plural b-er, definite plural b-ene)

  1. the letter b, the second letter of the Norwegian alphabet
  2. (music) the tone h lowered by half a step

    • 1944, Børre Qvamme, Musikk, pages 35–36:

      enhver tone er mangetydig, fiss er også gess, diss er ess, b er aiss og så videre

      every tone is ambiguous, fiss is also gess, diss is ace, b is aiss and so on

    • 2000, Bjørnar Pedersen og Egil Birkeland, Hillman Hunter:

      skotske sekkepiper stemmes i B

      Scottish bagpipes are tuned in B
  3. (music) a B-flat (sign indicating that the following note is to be lowered by half a step)

    • 1974, Jens Bjørneboe, Haiene, page 98:

      ingen vil påstå at notebladet med nøkler, kryss og b’er er selve musikken

      no one will claim that the sheet music with keys, crosses and bs is the music itself
  4. (physics) symbol for bar (“bar”)

b m (upper case B, definite singular b-en, indefinite plural b-ar, definite plural b-ane)

  1. The second letter of the Norwegian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  3. (music) B-flat

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

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.

b (upper case B, lower case)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (Cyrillic spelling б)

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

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.

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (upper case B)

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

From Gay's Latin alphabet b, from Czech alphabet b, from Latin b, modification of capital letter B by dropping its upper loop, which is derived from the Etruscan letter 𐌁 (b, “be”), from the Ancient Greek letter Β (B, “beta”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤁 (b, “bet”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓉐. Pronunciation as IPA(key): /bə/ is initial Slovene (phoneme plus a fill vowel) and the second pronunciation is probably taken from German B.

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b

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

b m inan

  1. The name of the Latin script letter B / b.
  2. (linguistics) The name of the phoneme /b/.
  • 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
  • “b”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
  • IPA(key): /ˈb/
  • Rhymes: -b
  • Syllabification: b

b

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b

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

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).
  • (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)

b (lower case, upper 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.

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

  1. The second letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abakada alphabet), called ba and written in the Latin script.
  • “b”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

  1. The second letter of the Welsh alphabet, called bi and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by a and followed by c.
  • 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
  • IPA(key): /p/ (mb is pronounced [mb])

b

  1. A letter of the Yele alphabet. Only occurs in the digraph ⟨mb⟩.

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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