ב
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Hebrew
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Homophone: ו
Letter
ב • (b, v)
Usage notes
- 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'-).
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