bee

See also: Bee, bée, beè, bêe, -bee, be'e, B.E.E., and béé

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

A bee

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijō (compare West Frisian and Dutch bij, Upper German Beie, Danish and Swedish bi), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰi- (compare Old Irish bech (“bee”), Welsh bydaf (“beehive”), Latin fūcus (“drone”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”)).

Noun

bee (plural bees or (dialectal) been)

  1. A flying insect, of the superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies and for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.
    • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
      His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge […].
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:
      An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      , II.12:
      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?
    • 2012, ‘Subtle poison’, The Economist, 31 March:
      Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

Possibly from dialectal English 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”),[1][2] from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”) from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request, supplication”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say, speak”). Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Dutch ban (“curse”), German Bann (“ban”). More at ban.

Noun

bee (plural bees)

  1. A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
    geography bee
  2. A gathering for a specific purpose, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
    • S. G. Goodrich
      The cellar […] was dug by a bee in a single day.
    • 2011, Tim Blanning, "The reinvention of the night", Times Literary Supplement, 21 Sep 2011:
      Particularly resistant, for example, in many parts of northern Europe was the “spinning bee”, a nocturnal gathering of women to exchange gossip, stories, refreshment and – crucially – light and heat, as they spun wool or flax, knitted or sewed.
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Etymology 3

(Northern development of) Old English bēah.

Noun

bee (plural bees)

  1. (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:
      And Kynge Arthure gaff hir a ryche bye of golde; and so she departed.
    • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin 2005, page 16:
      ...restoring unto the world much gold richly adorning his Sword, two hundred Rubies, many hundred Imperial Coynes, three hundred golden Bees, the bones and horseshoe of his horse enterred with him...

Etymology 4

Variant spellings.

Verb

bee

  1. Obsolete spelling of be
    • 1604 Reverend Cawdrey Table Aleph
      held that a ‘Nicholaitan is an heretike, like Nicholas, who held that wiues should bee common to all alike.’
  2. (obsolete) past participle of be; been
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Etymology 5

From Middle English, 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.
Translations
See also

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

Aiwoo

Verb

bee

  1. (intransitive) to grow

References

Aukan

Etymology

Borrowed from English belly.

Noun

bee

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

References

Dumbea

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ᵐbe/

Noun

bee

  1. fish

References

Estonian

Noun

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

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

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbeː/
  • Rhymes: -eː

Noun

bee

  1. 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

Inflection of bee (Kotus type 18/maa, no gradation)
nominative bee beet
genitive been beiden
beitten
partitive beetä beitä
illative beehen beihin
singular plural
nominative bee beet
accusative nom. bee beet
gen. been
genitive been beiden
beitten
partitive beetä beitä
inessive beessä beissä
elative beestä beistä
illative beehen beihin
adessive beellä beillä
ablative beeltä beiltä
allative beelle beille
essive beenä beinä
translative beeksi beiksi
instructive — bein
abessive beettä beittä
comitative — beineen

Synonyms

Latin

Pronunciation

Interjection

bēē

  1. baa (sound of a sheep)

References

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 etymology on the main entry.

Verb

bee

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

Mutation

Manx mutation
RadicalLenitionEclipsis
beeveemee
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (NV)(file)
  • IPA(key): [beː]

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

Tetum

bee

Alternative forms

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.

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