English Explanatory Dictionary

the bee's knees

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Something or someone excellent, surpassingly wonderful, or cool.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bee, -'s, knee. Corbiculae.

Pronunciation

En-au-the bee's knees.ogg

Word forms

the bee's knees

Etymology

Attested since 1922, of unclear origin. There are several suggested origins, but it most likely arose in imitation of the numerous animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s such as the cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, cat's meow, gnat's elbow, monkey's eyebrows etc. A popular folk etymology has the phrase referring to the world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Another suggestion is that the phrase is a corruption of business. The singular bee's knee is attested from the late 18th century meaning something small or insignificant in the phrase big as a bee's knee. Also as weak as a bee's knee is attested in Ireland (1870). It is possible that the bee's knees is a deliberate inversion of this meaning but is not attested. Another possibility is that this is a reference to the (visible) blobs of pollen in bees' corbiculae.

Synonyms

cat's meow cat's pyjamas dog's bollocks the bomb all that and a bag of chips antelope's cantaloupes ant's pants bee's knees bollocks cat's ass cat's pajamas cat's whiskers cream of the crop crème de la crème da bomb dog's dangly bits finger-lickin' good finger-licking good flea's eyebrows fox's socks greatest thing since sliced bread gold standard kitty's titties llama's pajamas mutt's nuts ne plus ultra spider's ankles the business the shit the tits
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