bee
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbiː/
homophone: b
homophone: be
homophone: Bea
rhymes: -iː
Forms: form: bees
form: been
Etymology: From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo (“bee”), from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijǭ (“bee”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- (“bee”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian bij (“bee”), Dutch bij, by (“bee”), German Biene (“bee”), Limburgish Bé, bie (“bee”), Luxembourgish Bei (“bee”), Vilamovian byn (“bee”), West Flemish bieë (“bee”), Yiddish בין (bin, “bee”), Danish, Swedish bi (“bee”), Faroese býfluga (“bee”), Icelandic bý, býfluga (“bee”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk bie (“bee”).
Senses: examples: text: His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge[…].
ref: 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
text: An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Can there be a more formall, and better ordered policie, divided into so severall charges and offices, more constantly entertained, and better maintained, than that of Bees?
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
text: Ariell: / Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowslips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:
text: Bees are the moſt excellent of all Inſects vvhatſoever, and expreſſe both vvorth and vvonder in all their vvaies: […]
ref: 1657, Samuel Purchas, “The Excellency of Bees”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, page 1:
text: He stood across in the other garden, beside a bush of pale Michaelmas daisies, watching the last bees crawl into the hive.
ref: 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 12”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
text: Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.
ref: 2012 March 31, “Subtle poison”, in The Economist:
text: New insights into bee movements and life cycles have been uncovered after researchers tracked the insects using tiny QR codes glued onto their backs. […] “This suggests that most of the foraging that the bees do occurs very close to the hive,” study co-author Margarita López-Uribe, an associate professor of entomology at PSU, told CNN on Monday.
ref: 2025 January 28, Jack Guy, “Tiny QR codes help scientists track bee movements”, in CNN:
glosses: A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.
glosses: Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
Synonyms: king of insects
Hypernyms: pollinator
Derived terms: Africanized bee
Africanized honey bee
alkali bee
antibee
apple-bee
apple bee
artificial bee colony
bee assassin
bee ball
bee balm
bee baw babbity
bee beard
bee bearding
bee beetle
bee bite
bee-brained
bee bread
bee-bread
beebrush
bee candy
beedom
bee-eater
bee farm
beefarm
bee farming
beefarming
bee fly
bee glue
bee gum
bee hawkmoth
beeherd
beehive
bee-hive
beehood
bee hoon
bee hotel
beehouse
bee hummingbird
bee in one's bonnet
beeish
beekeeper
beekeeping
beekind
beeless
beelike
bee-line
beeline
beeling
bee louse
beely
beemageddon
beeman
beemaster
bee moth
beemother
bee mother
bee orchid
bee pirate
beepocalypse
beeproof
bee purple
bee sage
beeskep
bee's knees
bee sting
bee-stung
beeswarm
beeswax
beeswing
Beetown
bee tree
bee up one's ass
bee-utiful
bee vacuum
bee violet
bee wine
bee wolf
beewort
beey
beeyard
black bee
blood bee
blue-cheeked bee-eater
bumble bee
bumblebee
bumble-bee
busy as a bee
busy bee
carder bee
carpenter bee
chronic bee paralysis virus
Chronic bee paralysis virus
common carder bee
coppice mining bee
cuckoo bee
digger bee
dog-bee
European bee-eater
European dark bee
follow the bee
green bee-eater
have a bee in your bonnet
hive bee
honey bee
honeybee
horse-bee
humble-bee
Italian bee
Kashmir bee hawkmoth
ke-mo sah-bee
killer bee
leaf-cutter bee
leafcutter bee
leaf-cutting bee
like a bee in clover
little green bee-eater
long-faced miner bee
mason bee
meat bee
mining bee
mumble-bee
nameless bee disease
nanobee
orchid bee
plasterer bee
poppy bee
put the bee on
queen bee
queen bee acid
quilting bee
resin bee
rock bee
sand bee
southeastern blueberry bee
spotted bee balm
squash and gourd bee
squash bee
stingless bee
sting like a bee
sweat bee
upholsterer bee
violet carpenter bee
vulture bee
Wallace's giant bee
worker bee
working bee
Related terms: word: Beowulf
word: apiology
word: apiculture
word: beekeeping
sense: castes
word: worker bee
sense: castes
word: worker
sense: castes
word: queen bee
sense: castes
word: queen
sense: castes
word: drone
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: beehive
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: eusocial
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: hive
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: swarm
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: tremble dance
topics: behavior
psychology
human-sciences
sciences
word: waggle dance
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: corbicula
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: sarothrum
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: scopa
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
word: sting
sense: substances
word: ambrosia
sense: substances
word: beebread
sense: substances
word: beeswax
sense: substances
word: honey
sense: substances
word: honeycomb
sense: substances
word: propolis
sense: substances
word: royal jelly
word: apitherapy
sense: hives
word: apiary
sense: hives
word: beehouse
sense: hives
word: skep
sense: hives
word: Langstroth hive
sense: equipment
word: super
sense: equipment
word: queen-cage
sense: equipment
word: bee escape
sense: equipment
word: duplet
sense: equipment
word: honey extractor
sense: equipment
word: topbar
sense: equipment
word: bee smoker
sense: equipment
word: apidictor
sense: diseases
word: chalkbrood
sense: diseases
word: colony collapse disorder
sense: diseases
word: foulbrood
sense: diseases
word: nosema
sense: diseases
word: sacbrood
sense: diseases
word: stonebrood
sense: diseases
word: varroa
word: apian
word: apiarian
word: apiarist
word: apimania
word: dumbledore
word: hornet
word: pollinator
word: wasp