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{{AZ|uc=B|lc=b}}
The letter '''B''' is the second letter of the modern
Latin alphabet. Its name in
English language English is ''bee''.
History
The letter B probably started as a
pictogram of the floorplan of a
house in
Egyptian hieroglyphs or the
Proto-semitic alphabet.
{| align="center" border="0" cellpadding="5"
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:EgyptianB-01.png none|Egyptian hieroglyphic house
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:Proto-semiticB-01.png Proto-semitic house
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:PhoenicianB-01.png Phoenician beth
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:GreekB-01.png Greek beta
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:EtruscanB-01.png Etruscan B
|align="center" width="130px"|
Image:RomanB-01.png Roman B
|-
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Egyptian hieroglyphic house
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Proto-semitic house
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Phoenician beth
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Greek beta
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Etruscan B
|align="center" valign="top" width="130px"|Roman B
|}
By
1500 BC, the
Phoenician alphabet's letter had a linear form that served as the basis for all later forms, which appeared in both the angular and more rounded forms. Its name must have corresponded closely to the
Hebrew alphabet Hebrew beth (letter) beth.
When the
Ancient Greeks adopted the alphabet, they changed its name to
beta (letter) beta and turned the letter upside-down and later added a second loop. In earlier Greek inscriptions, the letter faces to the left, but in the
Greek alphabet of later times it faces to the right, although there continued to be variations between pointed and rounded loops.
The
Etruscans brought the Greek alphabet to what is now
Italy and left the letter unchanged. The Romans later adopted the
Old Italic alphabet Etruscan alphabet to write
Latin, and the resulting letter, with rounded loops, has been preserved in the modern
Latin alphabet used to write many languages, including
English language English.
Typography
The modern lowercase letter a derives from later
Roman cursive#New Roman cursive Roman times, when scribes began omitting the upper loop of the capital.
{|
|align="center"|
Image:BlackletterB-01.png Blackletter B
|align="center"|
Image:UncialB-01.png Uncial B
|-
|align="center"|
Blackletter B
|align="center"|
Uncial B
|-
|align="center"|
Image:ModernRomanB-01.png Modern Roman B
|align="center"|
Image:ModernItalicB-01.png Modern Italic B
|align="center"|
Image:ModernScriptB-01.png Modern Script B
|-
|align="center"|Modern Roman B
|align="center"|Modern Italic B
|align="center"|Modern Script B
|}
The letter B should not be confused with the visually similar
German (language) German ß.
Usage
In
English language English and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, the letter b denotes the
voiced bilabial plosive (
International Phonetic Alphabet IPA {{IPA|/b/}}), as in ''bib''. In English it is sometimes "silent", as in ''debt'' or ''comb''. In medial position in
Spanish language Spanish it denotes the
voiced bilabial fricative (IPA {{IPA.html">Estonian language
Estonian,
Icelandic language Icelandic, and in
Chinese language Chinese transcription, B is not voiced, but is still contrasted to P, which is a
geminate {{IPA.html">Estonian language
Estonian and an
aspirate {{IPA|/p
h/}} in Chinese and Icelandic.
In the
International Phonetic Alphabet and
X-SAMPA, letter {{IPA|/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.
Codes for computing
{{Letter
|NATO=Bravo
|Morse=–···
|B1=â—?
|B2=â—?
|B3=â—‹
|B4=â—‹
|B5=â—‹
|B6=â—‹
}}
In
Unicode the
majuscule capital B is codepoint U+0042 and the
minuscule lowercase b is U+0062.
The
ASCII code for capital B is 66 and for lowercase b is 98; or in
Binary numeral system binary 01000010 and 01100010, correspondingly.
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.
Meanings for '''B'''
* As a
prefix (linguistics) prefix B indicates second rate (where
A is first/top rate) e.g.
B-movie,
B-team.
* In
astronomy,
** B stands for a January 16 through 31 discovery, in the provisional designation of a comet (e.g.
C/1865 B1, the Great Southern Comet of 1865) or asteroid (e.g.
(4156) 1988 BE).
** ''b'' often denotes the
semi-minor axis of an orbit.
* In
aviation, B (followed by a -) is the
ICAO prefix for civil aircraft registered in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
*
Brassiere cup size '''B'''.
* In
chemistry, B is the symbol for the
chemical element boron.
* In
chess, B is a notation symbol (descriptive style) for the
Bishop (chess) bishop piece.
* In the
RGB color model, B stands for the color
blue.
* In
computer science and
computing,
** b is an alternate symbol for
bit (
IEEE 1541; IEC 60027 recommends "bit" instead).
** B is the usual symbol for
byte (IEEE 1541 and IEC 60027). It is a fairly common error to use a lowercase b instead.
** B is the name of the
B programming language and the
B-Method, a leading
formal method.
**
is the
HTML element HTML tag for marking
boldface type.
**
can be used to indicate a
Boolean datatype type, especially in
formal specifications.
** B is a security division ("Mandatory Protection") in the
TCSEC.
** A
b-tree is a binary tree, a type of indexed data structure.
* In the diaries of
Edwina Currie, B was the code name for
John Major with whom the author was having an affair.
* In
education, B is a "good"
grade (education) grade, one below the top grade of ''A''.
* In
electrical engineering,
**B is the anode (plate) power supply (originally a
battery (electricity) battery) of
vacuum tube circuitry.
**B is the symbol for
susceptance, the
inverse of
reactance.
* In
English language English slang, B is a
euphemism for
Illegitimacy bastard or
bitch.
* In
film, "B." was the
costume designer for the movie
Domino (film) Domino.
* In
finance, B is the
New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol for
Barnes Group Inc..
* In
List of international license plate codes international licence plate codes, B stands for
Belgium.
* In
paper size international paper sizes, B is a series of sizes with an aspect ratio of roughly 70% width to height. The B series is a scaled version of the A series.
* In
mathematics,
** B is often used as a
numerical digit digit meaning ''
eleven'' in
hexadecimal and other positional
numeral systems with a
radix of 12 or greater.
**
in
Blackboard bold notation represents
Ball (mathematics).
** B may denote
Brun's constant, which equals ~1.902160583104.
* In
medicine, '''B''' (also, '''B+''' or '''B-''') is one of the human
blood types.
* In
metrology,
** B was sometimes used in the early twentieth century as a prefix for "
billion" (e.g.
BeV).
** B was the symbol for the
candle (unit) candle (from the French ''bougie''), a unit of
luminous intensity.
** b was the symbol for the
barn (unit) barn, a unit of effective cross-section in particle physics.
* In
music,
**
B (musical note) B is a
note.
** B, or "B-side", is the second or reverse side of a
vinyl record; also called the flip side.
* In the
North American
National Hockey League, the
Boston Bruins are sometimes referred to as the "'''Bs'''" because of the letter B on the front of their jerseys.
* In
nutrition, B refers to a group of
vitamins.
* In
photography, B is a
shutter speed.
* In
physics,
** The
vector (spatial) vector '''B''' represents the
magnetic field.
** The
symbol B stands for the
units of measurement unit Decibel bel.
** The bottom
quark is represented with small "b", the B
meson is represented with capital "B".
** ''b'' stands for the
Wien displacement law constant.
* As the first letter of a
postal code,
** In
Canada, B stands for
Nova Scotia.
** In the
United Kingdom, B stands for
Birmingham.
* In
radiocommunication, B is the
ITU prefix allocated to
China.
* In
rail transport, B is the
UIC classification for the
locomotive wheel arrangement known as
0-4-0 in the
Whyte notation; a locomotive with two powered axles (and thus four wheels) in which the axles are linked by gearing or
side rods.
* On the serial numbers of
United States dollars, B identifies the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
See also
{{Commons|B}}
*Ð’ :
Ve (Cyrillic)
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