Bet (letter)

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Bet (letter)

Bet, Beth, or Vet is the second letterLetter Summary

A letter is a written message from one person to another....
of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, AramaicAramaic language

Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history....
, HebrewHebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Jew...
SyriacSyriac alphabet

The Syriac alphabet is a writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC....
and Arabic alphabetArabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing Arabic and various other languages, together with various closely related...
. Its value is a voiced bilabial plosiveVoiced bilabial plosive

The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages....
, IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists....
.

This letter's name means "house" in various Semitic languages (Hebrew: bayit, Arabic: baytBayt

Bayt is the Arabic word for house, deriving from a common semitic root that also gave rise to the letter Bet....
; ultimately all from Proto-Semitic ), and appears to derive from a Middle Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age alphabets

The Middle Bronze Age alphabets are two similar but undeciphered scripts, dated to be from the Middle Bronze Age, and believ...
picture of a house by acrophonyAcrophony

In an acrophonic alphabet the initial sound of a word gives the name to the whole....
.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the GreekGreek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Greek language since about the 9th century BC....
BetaBeta (letter) Overview

In Modern Greek, it represents a voiced labiodental fricative , but in Ancient Greek, it represented a ....
, LatinLatin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world tod...
BB

The letter B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is bee . ...
, and CyrillicFacts About Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages; and many other languages of the for...
??

, or , is a letter derived from the Latin alphabet....
, ?? Overview

, or , is a letter derived from the Latin alphabet....
.

Hebrew Bet / Vet

OrthographicOrthography The orthography of a language is the set of symbols used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to... variants
Various Print Fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi ScriptRashi script Rashi script is a semi-cursive typeface for the Hebrew alphabet, in which Rashi's commentaries are printed both in the Talm...
Serif	Sans-serifSans-serif In typography, a sans-serif or sans serif typeface is one that does not have the small features called "serifs" at the...	Monospaced	Cursive Hebrew
?	?	?

The Hebrew letter represents two different phonemes: a "b" sound (bet) and a "v" sound (vet). The two are distinguished by a dot (called a dageshDagesh

The dagesh or daghesh is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet....
) in the centre of the letter for and no dot for .

This letter is named bet and vet, following the modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation, bet and vet , in IsraelIsrael

Israel , officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Se...
and by most JewJew

Jews are followers of Judaism or, more generally, members of the Jewish people , an ethno-religious group descended from th...
s familiar with Hebrew, although some non-Israeli AshkenaziAshkenazi Hebrew

The Ashkenazi Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Ashkenazi Jewish practice....
speakers pronounce it beis and veis , and some Jews pronounce it beth and veth . It is also named beth, following the Tiberian Hebrew pronunciation, in academic circles.

Variations on written form/pronunciation:

Name	Symbol	IPAFacts About International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists....	TransliterationTransliteration Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system....	Example
Vet			v	vote
Bet			b	boat

Bet with the dagesh

When the Bet has a "dot" in its center, known as a dageshDagesh

The dagesh or daghesh is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet....
, then it represents . There are various rules in Hebrew grammarHebrew grammar

Hebrew grammar is partly analytical, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles...
that stipulate when and why a dagesh is used.

Bet without the dagesh (Vet)

When this letter appears as ? without the dageshDagesh

The dagesh or daghesh is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet....
("dot") in its center then it represents a voiced labiodental fricativeVoiced labiodental fricative

The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages....
: .

Significance of ?, mystical and otherwise

Bet in gematriaGematria

Gematria is numerology of the Hebrew language and Hebrew alphabet, and is used by its proponents to derive meaning or r...
symbolizes the number 2.

As a prefixPrefix (linguistics) Overview

In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach....
, the letter bet may function as a preposition meaning "in", "at", or "with".

Bet is the first letter of the TorahFacts About Torah

Torah is a Hebrew word meaning "teaching," "instruction," or "law"....
. As Bet is the number 2 in gematria, this is said to symbolize that there are two parts to Torah: the Written TorahTorah

Torah is a Hebrew word meaning "teaching," "instruction," or "law"....
and the Oral TorahOral Torah

The Oral Torah, according to Rabbinic Judaism, is Jewish Law that was recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud....
.

RashiRashi

Rashi ??"? is a Hebrew acronym for ??? ???? ????? , or ??? ???? ???? , author of the first comprehensive commentaries on t...
points out that the letter is closed on three sides and open on one; this is to teach you that you may question about what happened after creation, but not what happened before it, or what is above the heavens or below the earth.

In set theorySet theory

Set theory is the mathematical theory of sets, which represent collections of abstract objects....
, the beth numberBeth number

In mathematics, the infinite cardinal numbers are represented by the Hebrew letter indexed with a subscript that runs over the or...
s stand for powers of infinite sets.

Syriac Beth

In the Syriac alphabetSyriac alphabet Overview

The Syriac alphabet is a writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC....
, the second letter is — Beth . It is one of six letters that represents two associated sounds (the others are GimelGimel (letter)

Gimel is the third letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic ....
, DaletDalet Overview

Dalet is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic ....
, KaphFacts About Kaph

Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet ....
, PePe (letter)

Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet ....
and TawTaw (letter) Summary

Taw or Tav is the twenty-second and last letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Ara...
). When Beth has a hard pronunciation (qûššayâ) it is a [bVoiced bilabial plosive Overview

The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages....
]. When Beth has a soft pronunciation () it is traditionally pronounced as a [vVoiced bilabial fricative

The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages....
]. However, in eastern dialects, the soft Beth is more often pronounced as a [wVoiced labial-velar approximant

The voiced labiovelar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages....
], and can form diphthongDiphthong Summary

In phonetics, a diphthong is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel ...
s with its preceding vowel. Whether Beth should be pronounced as a hard or soft sound is generally determined by its context within a word. However, wherever it is traditionally geminate within a word, even in dialects that no longer distinguish double consonants, it is hard. In the West Syriac dialect, some speakers always pronounce Beth with its hard sound.

Beth, when attached to the beginning of a word, represents the preposition 'in, with, at'. As a numeral, the letter represents the number 2, and, using various systems of dashes above or below, can stand for 2,000 and 20,000.

Arabic ba

The letter is named ba, and is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:

Ba-kasraHarakat

In th script, harakat are the diacritic marks used to represent vowel sounds....
(???, ) is used as a prefix in Arabic approximately meaning "with".