ב

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ב U+05D1, ב
HEBREW LETTER BET
א
[U+05D0]
Hebrew ג
[U+05D2]

Aramaic

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Pronunciation

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Letter

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ב (beth)

  1. The second letter of the Aramaic alphabet.
  2. The numeral 2 in Aramaic numbering.

Coordinate terms

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  • Previous: א
  • Next: ג

Hebrew

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Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Homophone: ו

Letter

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ב (b, v)

  1. Bet, beth, vet: the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, after א and before ג.
  2. The numeral 2 in Hebrew numbering.

Usage notes

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  • The letter ב represents what are now the phonemes /b/ and /v/. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, these phonemes are pronounced [b] and [v], respectively (like the ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ in English bet and vet). At some point in the past, these phonemes are commonly believed to have been a single phoneme /b/, with allophones [b] and perhaps [v] or [β] (where [β] is the voiced bilabial fricative, intermediate between the voiced bilabial plosive [b] and the voiced labiodental fricative [v]). The [b] allophone was found word-initially, after consonants, and when geminated. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, however, the phoneme /b/ can also occur in other contexts, especially in loanwords.
  • In writing with nikud (vowel markings and related diacritics), the letter ב takes a dagesh (בּ) when representing /b/.
  • For information about ב as a preposition meaning roughly "in" or "with", see ב־ (b'-).

Coordinate terms

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Yiddish

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Letter

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ב (beys)

  1. the second letter of the Yiddish alefbeys
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