For technical reasons, B# redirects here. For the musical note, see B♯ (musical note) B (b)'s the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English 's spelled bee, plural bees. History The letter B might've started as a pictogram of the floorplan of a house in Egyptian hieroglyphs or the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. By 1050 BC, the Phoenician alphabet's letter had a linear form that served as the beth. Egyptian hieroglyph cottage Proto-Canaanite house Phoenician beth Greek beta… (More on B)