BB

See also: bb, .bb, -bb, BB+, BB−, B&B, B & B, Bb., and B♭

Translingual

Symbol

BB

1. (international standards) ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for Barbados.

   Synonym: BRB (alpha-3)

2. (finance) Long-term bond credit rating by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, indicating that a bond is somewhat speculative with substantial risk of default.

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English

Alternative forms

• B.B., B. B., bb (certain senses only)

Noun

BB (countable and uncountable, plural BBs)

1. (electronics) Initialism of baseband.
2. Initialism of BlackBerry.
3. Initialism of basketball.
4. Initialism of baseball.
5. (computing) Initialism of bulletin board.
6. A type of pellet that can be shot from a BB gun.
7. Initialism of ball bearing.
   • 2010, Richard Hoppe, ‎Theodore L. Phillips, ‎Mack Roach, Leibel and Phillips Textbook of Radiation Oncology (page 203)

     Radiopaque catheters, wires, or small metal ball bearings (BBs) are taped to the patient's skin to help in identifying any anatomic landmark, diseased tissue, or scar on the skin.

8. (baseball) A walk; the statistic reporting the number of "bases on balls".
9. (US, navy) Abbreviation of battleship.

Derived terms

• BBCode
• BB gun
• beebee

Related terms

• BBN
• BBS

Proper noun

BB

1. Initialism of Big Brother.
2. Initialism of Big Bang.
3. Initialism of Bangka-Belitung.

Phrase

(deprecated template usage) BB

1. bye bye

Adverb

BB

1. bareback; without a condom

Synonyms

• (without a condom): Thesaurus:condomless

Phrase

(deprecated template usage) BB

1. Initialism of best before.

Translations

best before

• French: MA (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Chinese

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English baby.

Alternative forms

• 啤啤

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bi⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi² / bi⁴ bi²

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bi⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi² / bi⁴ bi²
    • Yale: bìh bī / bèih bī / bèih bí / bìh bí
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bi⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi¹ / bei⁴ bi² / bi⁴ bi²
    • Guangdong Romanization: bi⁴ bi¹ / béi⁴ bi¹ / béi⁴ bi² / bi⁴ bi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /piː²¹ piː⁵⁵/, /pei̯²¹ piː⁵⁵/, /pei̯²¹ piː³⁵/, /piː²¹ piː³⁵/

Note:

• bi4 bi1 - Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur;
• bei4 bi1, bei4 bi2, bi4 bi2 - Kuala Lumpur.

Noun

(deprecated template usage) BB

1. (Cantonese) baby
2. (Cantonese) Affectionate term of address between young couples

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 嬰兒 (“baby; infant”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		嬰
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		嬰兒, 嬰孩
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	嬰孩兒
	Taiwan	嬰兒, 寶寶
	Singapore	嬰兒
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	娃娃
	Wanrong	胎娃
	Xuzhou	小毛娃兒
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	奶娃兒, 奶娃子, 奶娃娃
	Wuhan	毛頭伢, 毛頭, 毛毛伢, 毛毛, 伢伢
	Guiyang	嫩娃娃
	Kunming	小每每, 小咕奶兒
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	小毛娃, 毛娃, 小寶寶
Cantonese	Guangzhou	蘇蝦仔, 蘇蝦, 𤘅孲仔, BB仔, BB, 阿蝦, 臊妹, 嫩蚊仔
	Hong Kong	BB仔, BB, B, 蘇蝦仔, 蘇蝦, 𤘅孲仔, 蝦仔
	Macau	BB仔
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	蘇蝦仔
	Taishan	毛蝦
	Dongguan	蘇蝦仔, BB, BB仔
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	蘇蝦仔, 𤘅孲仔, BB仔, BB
	Singapore (Guangfu)	蘇蝦
Gan	Nanchang	毛伢子
	Lichuan	毛伢崽
	Pingxiang	毛毛仔
Hakka	Meixian	孲𤘅仔, 孲𤘅
	Xingning	孲𤘅哩
	Huidong (Daling)	孲𤘅仔
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	孲𤘅子
	Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang)	嫩仔
	Changting	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Wuping	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Wuping (Pingyu)	蝦毛子
	Liancheng	孲𤘅子
	Yudu	伢人子, 毛伢子
	Ruijin	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Shicheng	赤伢
	Shangyou (Shexi)	伢毛子
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	孲𤘅仔
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	孲𤘅仔
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	孲𤘅, 孲𤘅仔
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	孲𤘅
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	孲𤘅仔, 孲𤘅
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	阿佅, 嬰仔
	Hong Kong	孲𤘅仔
Huizhou	Jixi	細妹
Jin	Taiyuan	小娃娃
	Xinzhou	小娃子
Northern Min	Jian'ou	𤘅仔
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	兒囝囝
Southern Min	Xiamen	嬰仔, 幼囝
	Quanzhou	嬰仔, 幼囝
	Jinjiang	幼囝
	Yongchun	嬰囝
	Zhangzhou	嬰仔, 嬰哥, 紅嬰仔, 紅嬰, 幼囝
	Taipei	嬰仔
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	紅嬰
	Kaohsiung	紅嬰仔
	Yilan	紅嬰仔
	Changhua (Lukang)	紅嬰仔
	Taichung	紅嬰仔
	Tainan	紅嬰仔
	Hsinchu	紅嬰仔
	Kinmen	嬰仔
	Singapore (Hokkien)	嬰仔, 尾咪, 細囝
	Manila (Hokkien)	嬰仔
	Guilin (Biyange)	毛毛崽
	Shantou	孥囝
	Jieyang	伲伲, 阿伲, 阿伲囝, 阿孥, 孥, 擁噯
	Singapore (Teochew)	anak
	Leizhou	儂
	Haikou	囝, 儂 intimate
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Sanxiang)	丫囝
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	娃娃
Wu	Shanghai	小毛頭, 小小囡, 毛毛頭
	Shanghai (Chongming)	小小囡
	Suzhou	小毛頭, 毛毛頭, 血泡泡
	Danyang	小毛毛, 毛毛
	Hangzhou	小毛頭兒, 小毛頭, 毛頭兒, 毛毛頭
	Ningbo	奶花, 小毛頭, 毛頭奶花, 孲𤘅, 抱手
	Wenzhou	娒兒, 娒娒兒
	Jinhua	王男
Xiang	Changsha	毛毛, 毛毛它, 毛它
	Loudi	毛毛唧, 毛毛

Further reading

• Hong Kong Cantonese#Imported loanwords
• Modern Cantonese Phonology; Robert S. Bauer, Paul K. Benedict; Mouton de Gruyter; 1997; page 404

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bībi

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧ ˙ㄅㄧ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bībi
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧ ˙ㄅㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bibi̊
    • Wade–Giles: pi¹-pi⁵
    • Yale: bī-bi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bi.bi
    • Palladius: биби (bibi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi⁵⁵ b̥i²/

Verb

BB

1. (Mandarin, slang) to complain; to talk rubbish

   你行你上，不行別BB [MSC, trad.]
   你行你上，不行别BB [MSC, simp.]

   nǐ xíng nǐ shàng, bùxíng bié BB [Pinyin]

   (also “you can you up, no can no BB”) If you can do it, go ahead; if you can't, don't criticize it

Etymology 3

From English BB.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bībī

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧ ㄅㄧ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: bībī
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧ ㄅㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: bibi
    • Wade–Giles: pi¹-pi¹
    • Yale: bī-bī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bibi
    • Palladius: биби (bibi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi⁵⁵ pi⁵⁵/

Noun

BB

1. BB (a type of pellet)

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Japanese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɯ̟ɾɯ̟ː ba̠k̚kɯ̟]

Noun

BB(ブルーバック) • (burū bakku) 

1. (Internet slang) Abbreviation of ブルーバック.

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²beːˌbeː/

Noun

BB n

1. Abbreviation of barnbördshus (“birthing centre”).

   De flesta föds på BB.

   Most people are born at birthing centres.

Declension

Declension of BB

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	BB	BB:s
	definite	BB:t	BB:ts
plural	indefinite	BB:n	BB:ns
	definite	BB:na	BB:nas