Definitions and meaning of bee
bee
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbiː/
-
- Homophones: b, be, Bea
-
- Rhymes: -iː
Etymology 1
From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey-. Cognate with Dutch bij.
Noun
bee (plural bees or (dialectal) been)
- 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.
- (informal, proscribed) Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
See also
- apiology, apiculture, beekeeping
- (castes): worker bee, worker, queen bee, queen, drone
- (behavior): beehive, eusocial, hive, swarm, tremble dance, waggle dance
- (anatomy): corbicula, sarothrum, scopa, sting
- (substances): ambrosia, beebread, beeswax, honey, honeycomb, propolis, royal jelly
- apitherapy
- (hives): apiary, beehouse, skep, Langstroth hive,
- (equipment): super, queen-cage, bee escape, duplet, honey extractor, topbar, bee smoker, apidictor
- (diseases): chalkbrood, colony collapse disorder, foulbrood, nosema, sacbrood, stonebrood, varroa
Etymology 2
Possibly from dialectal bene, been, bean (“help given by neighbours”), from Middle English been, bene (“neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request, extra service given by a tenant to his lord”), from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōni, from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request, supplication”).
Thus a variant of obsolete ben (“prayer; petition”) and doublet of boon. Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Dutch ban (“curse”), German Bann (“ban”). More at ban.
Noun
bee (plural bees)
- A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
- A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 3
From Middle English bie, from Old English bēah, bēag, from Proto-West Germanic *baug, from Proto-Germanic *baugaz. Doublet of beag, a learned borrowing; and of bagel.
Noun
bee (plural bees)
- (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
Etymology 4
Variant spellings.
Verb
bee
- Obsolete spelling of be.
- (obsolete) past participle of be; been
Etymology 5
From Middle English [Term?], from Old English be, from Latin be (the name of the letter B).
Noun
bee (plural bees)
- The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- (Latin-script letter names) letter; a, bee, cee, dee, e, ef, gee, aitch, i, jay, kay, el, em, en, o, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, u, vee, double-u, ex, wye, zee / zed
Etymology 6
Probably from Old English bēah (“ring”). Compare bow.
Noun
bee (plural bees)
- (nautical, usually in the plural) Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
Synonyms
References
Anagrams
Afar
Pronunciation
-
- IPA(key): /ˈbeː/ [ˈbeː]
- Hyphenation: bee
Verb
bée (autobenefactive beeté)
- (transitive) to take
- (transitive) to take away
- (transitive, + l-case) to overcome
- (transitive, + l-case) to be angry with
Conjugation
References
- E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “bee”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
- Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)[4], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)
Äiwoo
Verb
bee
- (intransitive) to grow
References
- Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.
Aukan
Etymology
From English belly.
Noun
bee
- belly, stomach
- uterus, womb
- pregnancy
- lineage, family line
References
- Aukan-English Dictionary (SIL)
Dumbea
Pronunciation
Noun
bee
- fish
References
- Leenhardt, M. (1946) Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mèlanèsie. Cited in: "ⁿDuᵐbea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.
- Shintani, T.L.A. & Païta, Y. (1990) Dictionnaire de la langue de Païta, Nouméa: Sociéte d'etudes historiques de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cited in: "Drubea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.
Estonian
Noun
bee (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])
- The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
Finnish
Etymology
From Latin bē.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbeː/, [ˈbe̞ː]
- Rhymes: -eː
- Syllabification(key): bee
- Hyphenation(key): bee
Noun
bee
- The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
Usage notes
- Speakers often use the corresponding forms of b-kirjain (“letter B, letter b”) instead of inflecting this word, especially in plural.
Declension
Synonyms
Fula
Alternative forms
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).
Particle
bee (Pular)
- it must, it is necessary that
Dialectal variants
See also
References
- Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.
Hadza
Pronunciation
Pronoun
bee f pl (masc. bami, masc. plural bii, fem. bôko)
- they (fem. or mixed gender)
Related terms
- habee
- nâbee
- himiggêbee
- beena
Hungarian
Etymology
An onomatopoeia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈbɛɛ]
- Hyphenation: bee
- Rhymes: -ɛ
Interjection
bee
- baa (sound of a sheep)
- (childish) a word expressing bragging and mockery between children
See also
Further reading
- bee in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Of imitative origin.
Interjection
bee
- baa (sound of a sheep)
References
Further reading
- “bee”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- bee in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Mandinka
Pronunciation
Noun
bee
- (anatomy) vagina
Manx
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Old Irish bíad (“food”). Cognate with Irish bia and Scottish Gaelic biadh.
Noun
bee m (genitive singular bee, plural beeghyn)
- food
- provisions
- nourishment
- diet
Derived terms
- bee ny jeeghyn (“ambrosia”)
- bee millish (“sweetmeat, sweet”)
- bee moddee (“dog food”)
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
bee
- inflection of ve:
- future
- second-person singular imperative
Mutation
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English bēo, from Proto-West Germanic *biju, from Proto-Germanic *bijō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /beː/
- (Early Middle English) IPA(key): /bøː/
Noun
bee (plural been or bees)
- A bee (insect that collects pollen)
Descendants
- English: bee
- Scots: bee, be, beye, bie, bea
- Yola: been (plural)
References
- “bẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-24.
Navajo
Pronunciation
Postposition
bee
- with, by means of, by means of it
Inflection
Old Irish
Verb
bee
- second-person singular present subjunctive absolute of at·tá
Romanian
Interjection
bee
- obsolete form of behehe
References
- bee in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
San Juan Guelavía Zapotec
Noun
bee
- ant
References
- López Antonio, Joaquín, Jones, Ted, Jones, Kris (2012) Vocabulario breve del Zapoteco de San Juan Guelavía[5] (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Tlalpan, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., pages 13, 25
Saterland Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian bēthe, from Proto-Germanic *bai (“both”) + *sa (“the”). Cognates include West Frisian beide and German beide.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /beː/
- Hyphenation: bee
- Rhymes: -eː
Determiner
bee
- both
Pronoun
bee
- both
Usage notes
- When used pronominally referring to two people (rather than objects or animals), the plural beeën is used.
References
- Marron C. Fort (2015) “bee”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN
Swahili
Pronunciation
Interjection
bee
- alternative form of abee
Tetum
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.
Noun
bee
- water (clear liquid H₂O)
Võro
Noun
bee (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])
- The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Yola
Etymology 1
From Middle English by, from Old English bi, from Proto-West Germanic *bī. Cognates include English by and Scots by.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /biː/
- Homophone: bye
Preposition
bee
- by
Etymology 2
Verb
bee
- alternative form of ba (“to be”)
- alternative form of ba (“are”)
- alternative form of ba (“was”)
References
Source: wiktionary.org