Etymology

4B

Today it means: A grade of pencil with lead that makes darker marks than a pencil grade 3B but lighter marks than a pencil of grade 5B; a pencil with very soft lead. Full definition →

Korean 비(非)
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The story

  1. Korean · derived from비(非)“un-, not”
  2. English today4B

From four Korean words starting with Korean 비(非) (bi, “un-, not”), thus literally translated as "four nos".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.