bee
Meanings
- 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.
- Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
- A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
- A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
- A ring or torque; a bracelet.
- Obsolete spelling of be.
- past participle of be; been
- The name of the Latin script letter B/b.
- Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
- someone connected with Barnet Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- Alternative letter-case form of bee.
- A diminutive of the female given name Beatrice.
- A surname.
- Initialism of Black Economic Empowerment.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰey-der. Proto-Germanic *bijǭ Proto-West Germanic *bijā Old English bēo Middle English bee English bee From Middle English be, bee, beo, bey, from Old English bēo, bīo (“bee”), from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijǭ (“bee”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- (“bee”). Cognates Cognate with Yola been (“bees”), North Frisian bi (“bee”), 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 and Swedish bi (“bee”), Faroese býfluga (“bee”), Icelandic bý, býfluga (“bee”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bie (“bee”); also Irish beach, meach (“bee”), Scottish Gaelic beach (“bee; beehive; wasp”), Latin fūcus (“bee”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Lithuanian bitė (“bee”), Belarusian пчала́ (pčalá, “bee”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”), Czech včála, včela (“bee”), Polish pszczoła (“bee”), Serbo-Croatian пчѐла, bčela, pčèla (“bee”), Slovak včela (“bee”), Slovene čebela (“bee”), Ukrainian бджола́ (bdžolá, “bee”), Ossetian биндзӕ (binʒæ), бындз (bynʒ, “fly”), Pashto وينه (waynë́, wenë́, wuynë́, “termite; white ant”).