# Voiced bilabial plosive

The voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨b⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial stop occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨b⟩ in obey [oʊˈbeɪ].

## Features

Features of the voiced bilabial stop:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Varieties

| IPA | Description |
| b | plain b |
| bʷ | labialised |
| b̜ʷ | semi-labialised |
| b̹ʷ | strongly labialised |
| bʲ | palatalised |
| bʱ | breathy voiced |
| bˠ | velarised |

## Occurrence

Occurrence of [b] in several languages :
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | бгъу / bġ° | | 'nine' | |
| Albanian | Albanian | bletë | ['bletə] | 'bee' | |
| Arabic | Standard | باب / baab / bāb | [baːb] | 'door' | See Arabic phonology |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܒܒܐ baba | [baːba] | 'father' | |
| Armenian | Eastern | բարի/bari | | 'kind' | |
| Basque | Basque | bero | [beɾo] | 'hot' | |
| Bengali | Bengali | বলো / balo | [bɔlo] | 'say!' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | bell | [ˈbeʎ] | 'beautiful' | See Catalan phonology |
| Chechen | Chechen | борз / borz | [borz] | 'wolf' | |
| Czech | Czech | bota | [ˈbota] | 'boot' | See Czech phonology |
| Danish | Standard | løber | [ˈløːbɐ] | 'runner' | Only partially voiced; possible allophone of /b/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless [p]. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | boer | [buːr] | 'farmer' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | English | aback | | 'aback' | See English phonology |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | batalo | [baˈtalo] | 'war' | See Esperanto phonology |
| Filipino | Filipino | buto | [buto] | 'bone' | |
| French | French | boue | [bu] | 'mud' | See French phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | ბავშვი / bavšvi | [ˈbavʃvi] | 'child' | |
| German | German | aber | | 'but' | See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Greek | μπόχα / bócha | [ˈbo̞xa] | 'reek' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Gujarati | Gujarati | બક્રી / bakri | [bəkri] | 'goat' | See Gujarati phonology |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | בית / báyit | [bajit] | 'house' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | बाल / bāl | [bäːl] | 'hair' | Contrasts with aspirated version /bʱ/. See Hindi-Urdu phonology |
| Hindustani | Urdu | بال / bāl | [bäːl] | 'hair' | Contrasts with aspirated version /bʱ/. See Hindi-Urdu phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | baba | [ˈbɒbɒ] | 'baby' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Italian | Italian | bile | [ˈbile] | 'rage' | See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 番 / ban | [baɴ] | '(one's) turn' | See Japanese phonology |
| Kabardian | Kabardian | бгъуы/bg"uy | | 'nine' | |
| Korean | Korean | 지붕 / jibung | [t͡ɕibuŋ] | 'roof' | See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Northern | bav | [bɑːv] | 'father' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Central | باوک/bâwk | [bɑːwk] | 'father' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Southern | باوگ/bâwig | [bɑːwɨg] | 'father' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | geblosen | [ɡ̊əˈbloːzən] | 'blown' | More often voiceless [p]. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | убав/ubav | [ˈubav] | 'beautiful' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Malay | Malay | baru | [bäru] | 'new' | |
| Maltese | Maltese | għatba | [aːtˈba] | 'threshold' | |
| Marathi | Marathi | बटाटा / baṭāṭā | [bəˈʈaːʈaː] | 'potato' | See Marathi phonology |
| Nepali | Nepali | बाटो / bāṭo | [bäʈo] | 'path' | See Nepali phonology |
| Norwegian | Norwegian | bål | [ˈbɔːl] | 'bonfire' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Odia | Odia | ବାର/barô | [bärɔ] | 'twelve' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Persian | Persian | خوب/ xub | [xub] | 'good' | See Persian phonology |
| Pirahã | Pirahã | pibaóí | [ˈpìbàóí̯] | 'parent' | |
| Polish | Polish | bas | | 'bass' | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | bato | [ˈbatu] | 'I strike' | See Portuguese phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਬਿੱਲੀ/billī | [bɪlːi] | 'cat' | |
| Romanian | Romanian | bou | [bow] | 'bull' | See Romanian phonology. |
| Russian | Russian | рыба / ryba | [ˈrɨbə] | 'fish' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | биће / biće | [bǐːt͡ɕě] | 'being' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | byť | [bi̞c] | 'to be' | |
| Slovene | Slovene | biti | [ˈbìːt̪í] | 'to be' | |
| Southern Min | Southern Min | 閩 / ban | [ban] | 'Fujian province' | Only in colloquial speech. |
| Spanish | Spanish | invertir | [ĩmbe̞ɾˈt̪iɾ] | 'to invest' | See Spanish phonology |
| Swedish | Swedish | bra | [ˈbɾɑː] | 'good' | May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | బడి | [badi] | 'school' | Contrasts with aspirated form. Aspirated form is articulated as breathy consonant. |
| Thai | Thai | บำบัด / bam-bàt | [bam.bat̚] | 'therapy' | See Thai phonology |
| Turkish | Turkish | bulut | [ˈbuɫut̪] | 'cloud' | See Turkish phonology |
| Tyap | Tyap | bai | [bai] | 'to come' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | брат / brat | [brɑt̪] | 'brother' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Welsh | Welsh | mab | [mɑːb] | 'son' | See Welsh phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | bak | [bak] | 'tray' | |
| Wu | Wu | 皮 / bi | [bi] | 'skin' | |
| Xiang | Xiang | 浮 / baw | [bau] | 'to float' | |
| Yi | Yi | ꁧ / bbo | [bo˧] | 'mountain' | |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | bald | [bald] | 'few' | |