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This article is about the letter of the alphabet. For other uses, see B (disambiguation).
For technical reasons, "B#" redirects here. For B-sharp, see B♯.
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B
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
Cursive.svg
Circle sheer blue 29.gif Circle sheer blue 27.gif
Cursive script 'b ' and capital 'B '
B (named bee /ˈbiː/[1]) is the second letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds (depending on language), but most commonly a voiced bilabial stop.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Typographic variants
2 Use
3 Related letters and other similar characters
4 Computing codes
5 Other representations
6 References
7 External links
History
The capital letter 'B ' may have started as a pictogram of the floorplan of a house in Egyptian hieroglyphs. By 1050 BC, the Phoenician alphabet 's letter had a linear form that served as the beth.
Egyptian hieroglyph cottage Phoenician beth Greek
Beta Etruscan
B Roman
B
Egyptian hieroglyphic house Phoenician beth Greek beta Etruscan B Roman B
Typographic variants
The modern lowercase 'b ' derives from later Roman times, when scribes began omitting the upper loop of the capital.
Blackletter B Uncial B Modern Roman B Modern Italic B Modern Script B
Blackletter B Uncial B Modern Roman B Modern Italic B Modern Script B
Use
In English, most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, and the International Phonetic Alphabet, 'b ' denotes the voiced bilabial plosive /b/, as in 'bib '. In English it is sometimes silent; most instances are derived from old monosyllablic words with the 'b ' final and immediately preceded by an 'm ', such as 'lamb ' and 'bomb '; a few are examples of etymological spelling to make the word more like its Latin original, such as 'debt ' or 'doubt '.
In Estonian, Icelandic, and Chinese pinyin, 'b ' does not denote a voiced consonant;
For technical reasons, "B#" redirects here. For B-sharp, see B♯.
Page semi-protected
B
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
Cursive.svg
Circle sheer blue 29.gif Circle sheer blue 27.gif
Cursive script 'b ' and capital 'B '
B (named bee /ˈbiː/[1]) is the second letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is used to represent a variety of bilabial sounds (depending on language), but most commonly a voiced bilabial stop.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Typographic variants
2 Use
3 Related letters and other similar characters
4 Computing codes
5 Other representations
6 References
7 External links
History
The capital letter 'B ' may have started as a pictogram of the floorplan of a house in Egyptian hieroglyphs. By 1050 BC, the Phoenician alphabet 's letter had a linear form that served as the beth.
Egyptian hieroglyph cottage Phoenician beth Greek
Beta Etruscan
B Roman
B
Egyptian hieroglyphic house Phoenician beth Greek beta Etruscan B Roman B
Typographic variants
The modern lowercase 'b ' derives from later Roman times, when scribes began omitting the upper loop of the capital.
Blackletter B Uncial B Modern Roman B Modern Italic B Modern Script B
Blackletter B Uncial B Modern Roman B Modern Italic B Modern Script B
Use
In English, most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, and the International Phonetic Alphabet, 'b ' denotes the voiced bilabial plosive /b/, as in 'bib '. In English it is sometimes silent; most instances are derived from old monosyllablic words with the 'b ' final and immediately preceded by an 'm ', such as 'lamb ' and 'bomb '; a few are examples of etymological spelling to make the word more like its Latin original, such as 'debt ' or 'doubt '.
In Estonian, Icelandic, and Chinese pinyin, 'b ' does not denote a voiced consonant;
References: Jump up ^ "B" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster 's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "bee", op. cit.