B
/biː/
noun
Origin
Phoenician
bet — house
Overview
Meaning Now
- The second letter of the modern English alphabet and the Latin script.
- A musical note one semitone above B flat.
Language path
Proto-Sinaitic → Phoenician → Greek → Latin → English
Earliest form
bet
Earliest period
circa 1000 BCE
Journey
The letter 'B' originated from a Proto-Sinaitic hieroglyph depicting a house. The Phoenicians adapted it as 'bet', which the Greeks later modified into 'beta'. As the Roman alphabet solidified, the character evolved into the lowercase and uppercase forms recognized today.
Evolution
- Proto-Semitic
bayt
“house”
Represented a floor plan of a house.
- Phoenician
bet
“house”
- Ancient Greek
beta
“second letter”
- Latin
b
“second letter”
Connections
Related across languages
Greek
beta
second letter
Hebrew
bet
house/letter B
Explore next
Related to B
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.