"b4" meaning in English

See b4 in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Preposition

Head templates: {{en-head|prep}} b4
  1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of before. Tags: Internet, abbreviation, alt-of Alternative form of: before Derived forms: inb4 Related terms: B4 [alternative]
{
  "head_templates": [
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        "1": "prep"
      },
      "expansion": "b4",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "before"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English prepositions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English words spelled without vowels",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "inb4"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              14,
              16
            ],
            [
              58,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Ellen Wittlinger, Heart on My Sleeve, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, pages 77 and 167:",
          "text": "gotta be back b4 joey gets here[…]let’s get 2gether again b4 julian comes, ok?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              69,
              71
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Paul Howard, PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids, The O’Brien Press, published 2012, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Was in Orphas room 2nite readin her diary again. 4got sum of it from b4.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              151,
              153
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009 March 10, Rosie DiManno, “Murder reduced to infantile online postings”, in Toronto Star, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2009:",
          "text": "Then, in a staggering display of empathy for the deceased lacking, this friend segues to the narcissist nub of the matter: \"Omg wat if yu get arrested b4 yur bdai.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Tara Chace, transl., Are U 4 Real?, Dial Books, translation of original by Sara Kadefors, →ISBN:",
          "text": "imagine if i die b4 i figure it out!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Jessica Burkhart, Elite Ambition, Aladdin M!X, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Hope 2 run into u 2day b4 I talk 2 Callie.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Geraldine Bloustien, Margaret Peters, Youth, Music and Creative Cultures: Playing for Life, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 215:",
          "text": "All drinks £2.50 b4 11pm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              113,
              115
            ],
            [
              164,
              166
            ],
            [
              219,
              221
            ],
            [
              320,
              322
            ],
            [
              360,
              362
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Elisabeth Sheffield, Helen Keller Really Lived, The University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, pages 203–209:",
          "text": "it also seems a lil hippo-criticl gvn youv been ritin a blog abt her and yer life as a gr8t artst & a muther snc b4 she wuz born.[…]i wuz just reedn wut i rote 2 u b4.[…]thar was 1 lil grrl w/curli brown hair like mine b4 i got it str8nd at sefora.[…]moms used to babysit wen she wuz my age but that wuz a long time ago b4 9-11[…]hes gonna cum in just 3 hours b4 moms gets up & im gonna meet him down the street so that she duznt heer his car.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              19,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Douglas Rees, Elektra’s Adventures in Tragedy, Running Press Teens, Perseus Books:",
          "text": "Yesterday. No, day b4.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              24
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Brett Wirebaugh, Half-Tail Rising, Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 141:",
          "text": "wen they r evacuating b4 the 14th",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Abbreviation of before."
      ],
      "id": "en-b4-en-prep-0sKq16yn",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "text messaging",
          "text messaging"
        ],
        [
          "before",
          "before#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of before."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "B4"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "b4"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "inb4"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "prep"
      },
      "expansion": "b4",
      "name": "en-head"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "before"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English abbreviations",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English internet slang",
        "English lemmas",
        "English prepositions",
        "English terms spelled with numbers",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English text messaging slang",
        "English words spelled without vowels",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              14,
              16
            ],
            [
              58,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Ellen Wittlinger, Heart on My Sleeve, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, pages 77 and 167:",
          "text": "gotta be back b4 joey gets here[…]let’s get 2gether again b4 julian comes, ok?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              69,
              71
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Paul Howard, PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids, The O’Brien Press, published 2012, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Was in Orphas room 2nite readin her diary again. 4got sum of it from b4.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              151,
              153
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009 March 10, Rosie DiManno, “Murder reduced to infantile online postings”, in Toronto Star, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2009:",
          "text": "Then, in a staggering display of empathy for the deceased lacking, this friend segues to the narcissist nub of the matter: \"Omg wat if yu get arrested b4 yur bdai.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Tara Chace, transl., Are U 4 Real?, Dial Books, translation of original by Sara Kadefors, →ISBN:",
          "text": "imagine if i die b4 i figure it out!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Jessica Burkhart, Elite Ambition, Aladdin M!X, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Hope 2 run into u 2day b4 I talk 2 Callie.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Geraldine Bloustien, Margaret Peters, Youth, Music and Creative Cultures: Playing for Life, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 215:",
          "text": "All drinks £2.50 b4 11pm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              113,
              115
            ],
            [
              164,
              166
            ],
            [
              219,
              221
            ],
            [
              320,
              322
            ],
            [
              360,
              362
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Elisabeth Sheffield, Helen Keller Really Lived, The University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, pages 203–209:",
          "text": "it also seems a lil hippo-criticl gvn youv been ritin a blog abt her and yer life as a gr8t artst & a muther snc b4 she wuz born.[…]i wuz just reedn wut i rote 2 u b4.[…]thar was 1 lil grrl w/curli brown hair like mine b4 i got it str8nd at sefora.[…]moms used to babysit wen she wuz my age but that wuz a long time ago b4 9-11[…]hes gonna cum in just 3 hours b4 moms gets up & im gonna meet him down the street so that she duznt heer his car.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              19,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Douglas Rees, Elektra’s Adventures in Tragedy, Running Press Teens, Perseus Books:",
          "text": "Yesterday. No, day b4.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              24
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Brett Wirebaugh, Half-Tail Rising, Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 141:",
          "text": "wen they r evacuating b4 the 14th",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Abbreviation of before."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "text messaging",
          "text messaging"
        ],
        [
          "before",
          "before#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of before."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "B4"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "b4"
}

Download raw JSONL data for b4 meaning in English (3.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (03da280 and 7f4db16). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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