Beta (letter)

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Look up Β, β in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Greek alphabet

Α α Alpha	Ν ν Nu
Β β Beta	Ξ ξ Xi
Γ γ Gamma	Ο ο Omicron
Δ δ Delta	Π π Pi
Ε ε Epsilon	Ρ ρ Rho
Ζ ζ Zeta	Σ σ ς Sigma
Η η Eta	Τ τ Tau
Θ θ Theta	Υ υ Upsilon
Ι ι Iota	Φ φ Phi
Κ κ Kappa	Χ χ Chi
Λ λ Lambda	Ψ ψ Psi
Μ μ Mu	Ω ω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝ ϝ Digamma	Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa	Ϡ ϡ Sampi
Ϛ ϛ Stigma	Ϸ ϸ Sho

For other uses, see Beta.

Beta (uppercase Β, lowercase β) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 2. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Beth . Letters that arose from Beta include the Roman B and the Cyrillic letters Be and Ve.

In Modern Greek, it represents a voiced labiodental fricative /v/, but in Ancient Greek, it represented a /b/.

Beta should not be confused with the German ligature eszett (ß), which closely resembles the lower case letter beta but is otherwise unrelated.

The Modern Greek name of the letter is [ˈviˑta]. The American pronunciation is [ˈbeɪɾə] whereas the British pronunciation is [ˈbiːtə]. See: American and British English pronunciation differences, IPA