Ɓ (minuscule: ɓ), called B-hook or B with hook, is a letter of the Latin alphabet and the International African Alphabet. Its lower-case form, ⟨⟩, represents a voiced bilabial implosive in the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is used to spell that sound in various languages, notably Fula, Hausa, and Giziga. It was also formerly used in, or at least proposed for, Xhosa and Zulu.
In Unicode, the upper case Ɓ is in the Latin Extended B range (U+0181), and the lower case ɓ is in the IPA range (U+0253). In Shona, the upper case form is a just a larger form of the lower case letter.
Alternative or obsolete capital form The Practical Orthography for African Languages (1930 ed.) used a different capital form, similar to the Cyrillic letter be (Б).Practical Orthography of African Languages, Revised Edition, London: Oxford University Press, 1930 A New Testament in the Loma language of Liberia, which was typeset in 1971, used this capital form.
Encoding
See also
Similar letters Ƃ ƃ (Zhuang) Б б (Cyrillic) ᵷ (lowercase turned g)
Alphabets with this letter Africa Alphabet African reference alphabet Pan-Nigerian alphabet Alphabets for the following specific languages: Fula (see also Fula orthographies) Hausa Giziga
References
Bibliography
"Latin Extended B: Range 0180-024F" (Unicode code chart) "IPA Extensions: Range 0250-02AF" (Unicode code chart)
External links Practical Orthography of African Languages