B
/biː/noun
The second letter of the English alphabet, representing several related consonant and vowel sounds depending on context.
Did you know?B descends from the Phoenician letter beth, meaning “house,” whose earliest pictographic form likely depicted a dwelling or floor plan.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*bayt
“House or dwelling”
2nd Millennium BCE
Phoenician
𐤁 bayt
“The consonant /b/, named for “house” and represented by a house-like symbol”
8th Century BCE
Greek
beta
“The second letter of the Greek alphabet, adapted from Phoenician bayt”
7th Century BCE
Etruscan
𐌁
“A borrowed alphabetic letter representing /b/”
1st Century BCE
Latin
B
“The second letter of the Latin alphabet”
Old English
Old English
bē
“The letter-name for B”
Modern English
English
B
“The second letter of the English alphabet”