ب be : ب be
called با bā in
Arabic, is the
second letter of the
Arabic and
Persian alphabets: and, in the
representation of
Hindī words by the
letters of these
alphabets, it
corresponds to the Nā- garī ब; or, with ه (he)
subjoined, to भ. When used
numerically, according to the
ابجد or
arrangement of the
Arabic alphabet to sig- nify
numbers, it
stands for two;
hence, it is used to
denote the
second day of the week,
Monday; and, in
astronomical calculations, the sign
Gemini. By way of
abbreviation, more- over, it is
occasionally written for the month
رجب rajab, of which word it is the final
letter. At the
middle or end of a word, this
letter is
sometimes changed to ف پ or م as, تپ tap for تب tab, A
fever; زفان zafān for
زبان za- bān,
Language; غژم g̠ẖuzhm for
غژب g̠ẖuzhb, A
grape-stone. In
Persian words, too, it is
occasionally interchanged with و and in such as are
borrowed or
derived from the
Sanskrit, it is
frequently substituted for the
Nāgarī letter व.