bee

English Online Dictionary. What means bee‎? What does bee mean?

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-.

Noun

bee (plural bees or (dialectal) been)

2. 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.

Synonyms

• king of insects

Hypernyms

• pollinator

Derived terms

Related terms

• Beowulf (possibly)

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-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)

2. A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.

4. A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English beeȝ, bie, bei, begh, beiȝe, bege, beah, bye, from Old English bēah, bēag, from Proto-Germanic *baugaz. Doublet of beag, a learned borrowing; and of bagel.

Noun

bee (plural bees)

2. (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.

Etymology 4

Variant spellings.

Verb

bee

1. Obsolete spelling of be.
2. (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)

1. 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)

1. (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

• bee block

References

Anagrams

• EBE

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeː/ [ˈbeː]
• Hyphenation: bee

Verb

bée (autobenefactive beeté)

1. (transitive) to take
2. (transitive) to take away
3. (transitive, + l-case) to overcome
4. (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)‎^[2], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Äiwoo

Verb

bee

1. (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

1. belly, stomach
2. uterus, womb
3. pregnancy
4. lineage, family line

References

• Aukan-English Dictionary (SIL)

Dumbea

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ᵐbe/

Noun

bee

1. 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])

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

Fingallian

Etymology

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-West Germanic *bijā.

Noun

bee

1. (figurative) uneasiness, restlessness
   • A NORTH-COUNTY DUBLIN CLOSSARY:

     the bee is in you, said to a restless child.

References

• J. J. Hogan and Patrick C. O'Neill (1947) Béaloideas Iml. 17, Uimh 1/2, An Cumann Le Béaloideas Eireann/Folklore of lreland Society, page 264

Finnish

Etymology

From Latin bē.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeː/, [ˈbe̞ː]
• Rhymes: -eː
• Hyphenation^(key): bee

Noun

bee

1. 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

• b-kirjain

Fula

Alternative forms

• beni

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

Particle

bee (Pular)

1. it must, it is necessary that

Dialectal variants

• maal
• doole
• tilay
• say
• sey

See also

• duwaa

References

• Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.

Hadza

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beʔe/

Pronoun

bee f pl (masc. bami, masc. plural bii, fem. bôko)

1. 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

1. baa (sound of a sheep)
2. (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

• be

Etymology

Of imitative origin

Interjection

bee

1. 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

• IPA^(key): /beː/

Noun

bee

1. (anatomy) vagina

Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biː/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish bíad (“food”). Cognate with Irish bia and Scottish Gaelic biadh.

Noun

bee m (genitive singular bee, plural beeghyn)

1. food
2. provisions
3. nourishment
4. 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

1. inflection of ve:
   1. future
   2. second-person singular imperative

Mutation

Middle English

Alternative forms

• be, beo, bey

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)

1. A bee (insect that collects pollen)

Descendants

• English: bee
• Fingallian: 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

• IPA^(key): /pèː/

Postposition

bee

1. with, by means of, by means of it

Inflection

Old Irish

Verb

bee

1. second-person singular present subjunctive absolute of at·tá

Romanian

Interjection

bee

1. 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

1. ant

References

• López Antonio, Joaquín, Jones, Ted, Jones, Kris (2012) Vocabulario breve del Zapoteco de San Juan Guelavía‎^[3] (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

1. both

Pronoun

bee

1. 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

1. Alternative form of abee

Tetum

Alternative forms

• wee (Tetun-Terik)

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

bee

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Võro

Noun

bee (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Yola

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biː/

Etymology 1

From Middle English by, from Old English bi, from Proto-West Germanic *bī. Cognates include English by and Scots by.

Alternative forms

• bie, be, by

Preposition

bee

1. by

Etymology 2

Verb

bee

1. Alternative form of ba (“to be”)
2. Alternative form of ba (“are”)
3. Alternative form of ba (“was”)

References