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==Usage== |
==Usage== |
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In [[English language|English]] and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter b denotes the [[voiced bilabial plosive]] ({{IPA-en|b|}}), as in ''bib''. In English it is sometimes silent, as in ''debt'' or ''comb'' (however the 'b' in 'comb' was actually pronounced at one time). In [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] transcription, B is not voiced, but is still contrasted to P, which is [[geminate]]d {{IPA|/pp/}} in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[aspiration (linguistics)| |
In [[English language|English]] and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter b denotes the [[voiced bilabial plosive]] ({{IPA-en|b|}}), as in ''bib''. In English it is sometimes silent, as in ''debt'' or ''comb'' (however the 'b' in 'comb' was actually pronounced at one time). In [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] transcription, B is not voiced, but is still contrasted to P, which is [[geminate]]d {{IPA|/pp/}} in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[aspiration (linguistics)|hjvkjhkjkhjk[[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] it is [[implosive consonant|implosive]] {{IPA2|ɓ}}, in contrast to the [[digraph]] Bh which represents {{IPA2|b}}. |
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Examples can be: Blue; Bubble; Block; Ball; Building |
Examples can be: Blue; Bubble; Block; Ball; Building |
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Revision as of 20:54, 2 September 2009
For technical reasons, B# redirects here. For the musical note, see B♯ (musical note)
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| ISO basic Latin alphabet |
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| AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz |
B (b) is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English (Template:Pron-en) is spelled bee, plural bees.[1]
History
The letter B might have started as a pictogram of the floorplan of a house in Egyptian hieroglyphs or the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. By 1050 BC, the Phoenician alphabet's letter had a linear form that served as the beth.
| Egyptian hieroglyph cottage |
Proto-Canaanite house |
Phoenician beth |
Greek Beta |
Etruscan B |
Roman B |
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Typography
The modern lowercase letter b derives from later Roman times, when scribes began omitting the upper loop of the capital.
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| Blackletter B | Uncial B | |
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| Modern Roman B | Modern Italic B | Modern Script B |
The letter B is often confused with the visually similar German ß which stands for ss.
Usage
In English and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter b denotes the voiced bilabial plosive (/b/), as in bib. In English it is sometimes silent, as in debt or comb (however the 'b' in 'comb' was actually pronounced at one time). In Estonian, Icelandic, and in Chinese transcription, B is not voiced, but is still contrasted to P, which is geminated /pp/ in Estonian and [[aspiration (linguistics)|hjvkjhkjkhjkZulu and Xhosa it is implosive IPA: [ɓ], in contrast to the digraph Bh which represents IPA: [b]. Examples can be: Blue; Bubble; Block; Ball; Building
Finnish uses the letter b only for loanwords.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA, letter /b/ denotes the voiced bilabial plosive. Variants of the letter b denote related bilabial consonants, like the voiced bilabial implosive and the bilabial trill. In X-SAMPA, capital B denotes the voiced bilabial fricative.
B is also a musical note.
In Contracted (grade 2) English braille, b stands for "but" when in isolation.
Codes for computing
class="template-letter-box | In Unicode the capital B is codepoint U+0042 and the lower case b is U+0062.
The ASCII code for capital B is 66 and for lower case b is 98; or in binary 01000010 and 01100010, respectively.
The EBCDIC code for capital B is 194 and for lowercase b is 130.
The numeric character references in HTML and XML are "B" and "b" for upper and lower case, respectively.
See also
- В, в : Ve (Cyrillic)
- Б, б: Be (Cyrillic)
- The Semitic letter Bet
- Ɓ
- B postcode area (United Kingdom)
- /b/
References
- ^ "B" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "bee", op. cit.