b - synonyms, antonyms, definitions

b

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of b in English

English Online Dictionary. What means b‎? What does b mean?

Translingual

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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. The corresponding voiceless stop is p.

Letter

b (upper case B)

The second letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

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

Usage notes

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”).

Gallery

Letter styles

References

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/ (see also Pronunciation under Translingual)
(letter name) IPA^(key): /biː/
(letter name) Rhymes: -iː
(letter name) Homophones: be, bee, Bea

Letter

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

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

Usage notes

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.

Number

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Etymology 2

Adjective

b (not comparable)

Abbreviation of born.
Alternative form: b.

Symbol

(astronomy) latitude in the galactic coordinate system
(physics) barn
(computing) bit
(cricket) bye
(size) big

Derived terms

(computing): Kb, Mb, Gb, Tb, Pb, Eb
(computing): bps, b/s
(cricket): lb
(others): menty b

Translations

Etymology 3

Abbreviations.

Verb

(text messaging) Abbreviation of be.

Symbol

(Stenoscript) a single consonant /b/ in a word, or a dominant /b/ in a cluster.
(Stenoscript) the sequence /biː/
(Stenoscript) Abbreviation of be and inflections being, been.
(Stenoscript) Abbreviation of by and homophones buy, bye.
(Stenoscript) Abbreviation of but.

References

Afar

Letter

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

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b lower case (upper case B)

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

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /be/, [be̞]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbe]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Central Mazahua

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɓ/

Letter

b (upper case B)

A letter of the Mazahua alphabet.

Chipewyan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Czech

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Danish

Letter

b (uppercase B)

the second letter of the Danish alphabet

Dutch

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -eː
(letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Esperanto

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/; before a voiceless consonant, IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Estonian

Pronunciation

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

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Noun

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

The letter b (the second letter of the Estonian alphabet)
(music) B-flat (note)
Synonym: si-bemoll

Declension

(music):

References

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

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Finnish

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords.

Etymology 2

German musical notation.

Noun

(music) B flat

Usage notes

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.

Declension

Derived terms

French

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /be/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Fula

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Usage notes

Common to all varieties of Fula (Fulfulde / Pulaar / Pular).

Gothic

Romanization

Romanization of 𐌱

Heiltsuk

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Hungarian

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈb]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈbeː]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

The third letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called bé and written in the Latin script.
(music) B-flat, B♭ (the 11th note of the C chromatic scale)
Coordinate terms: cesz, desz, esz, fesz, gesz, asz

Declension

Derived terms

Icelandic

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /pjɛː/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Ido

Pronunciation

(context pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b/
(letter name) IPA^(key): /be/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /be/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Irish

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Italian

Letter

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

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

Kankanaey

Etymology

Borrowed from Tagalog b. Letter pronunciation is influenced by English b.

Pronunciation

(letter) IPA^(key): /bi/ [bi̞]
- Rhymes: -i
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/ [b̚]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

References

Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2016) Ortograpiya di Kankanaëy [Kankanaey Orthography]‎^[5] (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

Kashubian

Etymology

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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Latin

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Latvian

Etymology

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

IPA^(key): [b]

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Livonian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Lushootseed

Letter

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

Malay

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Maltese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/
IPA^(key): /p/ (per final devoicing or assimilation to a following voiceless obstruent)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Navajo

Letter

b (upper case B)

A letter of the Navajo alphabet, written in the Latin script.

North Frisian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [b] (most dialects)
IPA^(key): [b̥~p] (Sylt, merges with ⟨p⟩ except at the start of a word or stressed syllable)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

A letter of the North Frisian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/
Rhymes: -eː
Hyphenation: b
Homophones: B, be

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Noun

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

the letter b, the second letter of the Norwegian alphabet
(music) the tone h lowered by half a step
(music) a B-flat (sign indicating that the following note is to be lowered by half a step)
(physics) symbol for bar (“bar”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/
Homophone: be

Letter

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

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

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Polish

Etymology

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

IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ/

Letter

b (upper case B, lower case)

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Romani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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”).

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (Cyrillic spelling б)

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

Silesian

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/
Rhymes: -p
Syllabification: b

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Slovak

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [p]

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Slovene

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/, [p], [b̪]
(letter name): IPA^(key): /bə́/, /bèː/, /béː/
Rhymes: -ə, -eː

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Symbol

(SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [b].

Noun

b m inan

The name of the Latin script letter B / b.
(linguistics) The name of the phoneme /b/.

Declension

Overall more common

More common when with a definite adjective

Derived terms

Slovincian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /b/
Rhymes: -b
Syllabification: b

Particle

Alternative form of bë

Spanish

Pronunciation

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)

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Derived terms

Swedish

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /beː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Noun

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

References

Swedish Police Authority list of drug slang

Tagalog

Etymology 1

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

(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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Etymology 2

From the Abakada alphabet letter b being pronounced as ba.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ba/ [bɐ]
Rhymes: -a

Particle

b (Baybayin spelling ᜊ) (Internet slang, text messaging)

Abbreviation of ba (interrogative particle)

Turkish

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/
(letter name) IPA^(key): /beː/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Turkmen

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /b/

Letter

b (upper case B)

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

Vietnamese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

(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

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Etymology 2

Pronoun

(slang, Internet, text messaging) Abbreviation of bạn.

Võro

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/

Letter

b (uppercase B)

The letter of the Võro alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /biː/
- (informal) IPA^(key): /bə/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b at the beginning of words mutates to f in a soft mutation, to m in a nasal mutation and is unchanged by aspirate mutation, for example with the word bara (“bread”):

Yele

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /p/ (mb is pronounced [mb])

Letter

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

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /b/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /bí/

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

Zulu

Letter

b (lower case, upper case B)

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

b

b

Translingual

Etymology

Pronunciation

Letter

Symbol

Usage notes

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

Usage notes

See also

Number

Etymology 2

Adjective

Symbol

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 3

Verb

Symbol

References

Afar

Letter

See also

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Basque

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Catalan

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Central Mazahua

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Chipewyan

Pronunciation

Letter

Czech

Letter

See also

Danish

Letter

See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Estonian

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Noun

Declension

References

Faroese

Pronunciation

Letter

See also

Finnish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter