Fullwidth Latin Capital Letter B

It is the Latin capital B in a fullwidth form. Read it as B in a word or initialism. Its wider character cell changes spacing and string identity, not the letter’s meaning.

A historical standard milestone for fullwidth Roman characters is Japan’s JIS C 6226, published in January 1978. It was a mixed character set for information exchange and the Japanese word-processing systems that followed.

The form is part of the history of mixed-width East Asian text. Unicode retains it as a compatibility form so older data can preserve the width distinction; it is not a separate alphabet.

Why use Ｂ instead of B?

It fits a square character grid. Japanese text layouts have used square cells for CJK characters, while ordinary Latin letters can be narrower. Fullwidth Latin forms let mixed text align to that grid, especially in fixed-width or legacy East Asian text.

In the 2010s, vaporwave and related internet styling used fullwidth runs as retro digital decoration. A title such as ＺＥＬＤＡＷＡＶＥ keeps the usual letter readings and adds a wide, spaced-out look.

How do I type fullwidth B?

Use fullwidth alphanumeric conversion in a Japanese input method.

On Windows, enter B with a Japanese IME and press F9. On Mac, choose Full-width Alphanumeric from the Japanese conversion candidates. On a phone, use a Japanese keyboard and select its fullwidth candidate. A 2025 Tokyo Metropolitan application guide describes these routes for web forms.

If a form does not request 全角, ordinary B is usually the safer entry for English. Use Ｂ when the recipient or field specifies fullwidth; a width mismatch can be hard to spot.