Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

B

B (bē) is the second letter of the English alphabet. (See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 196, 220.) It is etymologically related to p, v, f, w, and m, letters representing sounds having a close organic affinity to its own sound; as in Eng. bursar and purser; Eng. bear and Lat. ferre; Eng. silver and Ger. silber; Lat. cubitum and It. gomito; Eng. seven, Anglo-Saxon seofon, Ger. sieben, Lat. septem, Gr.ἑπτά, Sanskrit saptan. The form of letter B is Roman, from the Greek B (Beta), of Semitic origin. The small b was formed by gradual change from the capital B.

In Music, B is the nominal of the seventh tone in the model major scale (the scale of C major), or of the second tone in its relative minor scale (that of A minor). B♭ stands for B flat, the tone a half step , or semitone, lower than B. In German, B stands for our B♭, while our B natural is called H (pronounced hä).

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.