View source for Be (Cyrillic)

{{Short description|Letter of the Cyrillic script}}
{{Distinguish|Coptic alphabet{{!}}ϭ|Cherokee syllabary{{!}}Ꮾ|6|Delta (letter){{!}}δ/𝛿|Ƃ}}
{{Redirect|B (Cyrillic)|the Cyrillic character В|Ve (Cyrillic)}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name=Б (Buky/{{nobold|бѹкꙑ}})
|letter=Б б
|variations=([[B (Cyrillic)#Related letters and other similar characters|See below]])
|image=Cyrillic letter Be - uppercase and lowercase.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
|script=[[Cyrillic script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|typedesc=ic
|language=[[Old Church Slavonic]]
|phonemes=[{{IPA link|b}}]<br>[{{IPA link|p}}]<br>[{{IPA link|β}}]
|unicode=U+0411, U+0431
|alphanumber=2
|usageperiod=~900 to present
|fam1=<hiero>O1</hiero>
|fam2=[[File:Proto-semiticB-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Bet]]
|fam3=[[File:Proto-Canaanite - bet.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam4=[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Bet]]
|fam5=[[File:Greek Beta 16.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam6=[[beta|Β β]]
|sisters=*[[B]]
*[[Beta|B β]]
*[[Ve (Cyrillic)|В в]]
*[[Ƃ|Ƃ ƃ]]
|equivalents=[[B]] ([[Latin script]])
|direction=Left-to-right
}}

[[File:Азбука_красноармейца._Б.jpg|thumb|''Be'', from the ''Alphabet Book оf the Red Army soldier'' (1921)]]
'''Be''' (Б б; italics: ''Б б'' or <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">Б&nbsp;б</span>; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Б&nbsp;б''</span>)   is a letter of the [[Cyrillic script]]. It commonly represents the [[voiced bilabial plosive]] {{IPA|/b/}}, like the English pronunciation of {{angbr|b}} in "'''b'''all". It should not be confused with the [[Ve (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic letter Ve]]  (В&nbsp;в), which is shaped like Latin capital letter B but represents the [[voiced labiodental fricative]] {{IPA|/v/}} or the [[voiced bilabial fricative]] {{IPA|/β/}}. The Cyrillic letter Б (Be) is romanized using the Latin letter <span lang="en">B</span>.

==History==
The Cyrillic letters Be and [[Ve (Cyrillic)|Ve]] (В&nbsp;в) were both derived from the Greek letter [[Beta]] (Β&nbsp;β).

In the [[Early Cyrillic alphabet]] the name of the letter Be was {{Script|Cyrs|бѹкꙑ}} (''buky''/<span lang="sr-Cyrl">буки</span>), meaning "letter".

In the [[Cyrillic numerals|Cyrillic numeral system]], the letter Be had no numeric value because the letter Ve inherited the Greek letter Beta's numeric value.

==Form==
The Russian small letter <span lang="ru">б</span> (be) is similar (but not identical) in shape to the [[6|digit 6]]. Its lowercase form also somewhat resembles a lowercase letter [[B]] ("b"), the letter to which it corresponds in the Latin alphabet. After all, the lowercase letter [[B]] ("b") developed from scribal alterations to the capital letter [[B]] ("B"), just as б did from scribal alterations to the capital letter [[Ve (Cyrillic)|В]] ("Ve").
[[File:Б-Various Forms.png|left|thumb|119x119px|Printed forms (the font used is{{nbsp}}[[Times New Roman]])]]
In Serbian and Macedonian the italic form is allowed to vary, but the regular should look like in other languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Peshikan |first1=Mitar |last2=Jerković |first2=Jovan |last3=Pižurica |first3=Mato |title=Pravopis srpskoga jezika |date=1994 |publisher=Matica Srpska |page=42 |ref=PravopisSrpskog}}</ref>

The cursive form of the lowercase letter Be resembles the lowercase [[Delta (letter)|Greek letter Delta]] (<span lang="gr">δ</span>), but they are slightly different in their upper portions.

==Usage==
<div style="float:right">{{Listen|filename=Cyrillic-Б.ogg|title=Б (Cyrillic).ogg|description=Pronunciation of name of Cyrillic 'Б'|format=[[Ogg]]}}</div>
In [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], the letter Be generally represents the [[voiced bilabial plosive]] {{IPA|/b/}}, but word-finally or before a voiceless [[consonant]], it also represents the voiceless {{IPA|[p]}}. Before a [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalizing]] vowel, it represents {{IPA|/bʲ/}}. In [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], the letter represents the sound {{IPA|/b/}}, but if it is in the final position of the word, it is pronounced as {{IPA|/p/}}, like in {{lang|mk|леб}} {{IPA|/lɛp/}} ('bread').

In [[Mari language|Mari]], it may represent either /b/ or the [[voiced bilabial fricative]] {{IPA|/β/}}.

In Serbian, the letter represents the voiced bilabial plosive /b/, regardless of the position in the word.

==Related letters and other similar characters==
{{Flowlist|
*Β β : [[Beta (letter)|Greek letter Beta]]
*В в : [[Ve (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic letter Ve]]
*B b : [[B|Latin letter B]]
*Ƃ ƃ : [[Ƃ|Latin letter Ƃ]]
}}

{{Anchor|Code positions}}

==Computing codes==
{{Charmap
|0411|name1=Cyrillic Capital Letter Be
|0431|name2=Cyrillic Small Letter Be
|map1=[[KOI8-R]] and [[KOI8-U]] |map1char1=E2 |map1char2=C2
|map2=CP 855 |map2char1=A3 |map2char2=A2
|map3=[[Windows-1251]] |map3char1=C1 |map3char2=E1
|map4=[[ISO-8859-5]] |map4char1=B1 |map4char2=D1
|map5=[[MacCyrillic encoding|Mac Cyrillic]] |map5char1=81 |map5char2=E1
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|Б}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|б}}

{{Cyrillic navbox}}
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[[Category:Cyrillic letters]]