Latin beta

Latin beta (uppercase: Ꞵ, lowercase: ꞵ), is a letter of the Latin script. Its shape, in uppercase and lowercase, is based on the lowercase shape of the letter beta from the Greek alphabet (β). The letter is used in the various languages of Gabon and has been used in Ndaʼndaʼ language in Cameroon to represent a sound similar to "v".^[1] It is not typographically and linguistically related to the similar looking letter eszett (ẞ, ß) used in writing German, which represents an /s/ sound.

Latin beta
Ꞵ ꞵ
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	alphabetic
Language of origin	Pinji, Benga, Barama, Galwa, Viya, Kande, Kaning'i, Lumbu, Myene, Ndumu, Ngom, Njebi, Vove, Punu, Sangu, Shira, Vumbu, Ndaʼndaʼ language (formerly)
Sound values	[β]
In Unicode	U+A7B4, U+A7B5
History
Development	Β β Ꞵ ꞵ
Sisters	B, Β
Other
Writing direction	Left-to-Right
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Not to be confused with B or ß.

Usage

The letter is used in the scientific alphabet of the languages of Gabon used for Pinji, Benga, Barama, Galwa, Viya, Kande, Kaning'i, Lumbu, Myene, Ndumu, Ngom, Njebi, Vove, Punu, Sangu, Shira and Vumbu languages.

Additionally, it has been used in 2013 in the alphabet made by Émile Gille Nguendjio for the Ndaʼndaʼ language, for example in the word káꞵé ([ka˥βe˥]), which means "cover".^[1] Nguendjio replaced it with the letter P in 2014.^[2]

Encodings

Character information

Preview	Ꞵ		ꞵ
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER BETA		LATIN SMALL LETTER BETA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	42932	U+A7B4	42933	U+A7B5
UTF-8	234 158 180	EA 9E B4	234 158 181	EA 9E B5
Numeric character reference	Ꞵ	Ꞵ	ꞵ	ꞵ