bee

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See also Bee, bée, and béé

Contents

[edit] English

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[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

A bee

Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bīōn (compare Dutch bij, Upper German Beie, Swedish bi), from Proto-Indo-European *bʱi- (compare Old Irish bech (“bee”), Welsh bydaf (“beehive”), Latin fūcus (“drone”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Russian пчела (pčelá, “bee”)).

[edit] Noun

bee (bees or been (dialectal))

  1. A flying insect, of the order Hymenoptera, group Apiformes.
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from bee (noun)
[edit] Translations
insect
[edit] See also

[edit] Etymology 2

From Scots bean (“a person, member of a group”), from Middle English been, bene (“neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request”), from Old English bēn (“prayer, request”), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhā- (“to say, speak”). Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Dutch ban (“curse”), German Bann (“ban”). More at ban.

[edit] 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.
    • 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.
[edit] Translations
contest
gathering
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[edit] Etymology 3

(Northern development of) Old English bēah.

[edit] 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, p. 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...

[edit] Etymology 4

Variant spellings.

[edit] Verb

bee

  1. Archaic 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.’

[edit] Etymology 5

[edit] Noun

bee (plural bees)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter B/b.
[edit] See also
[edit] Translations
name of the letter B, b
  • Arabic: بي (ar) (bii) m. (also often used for P, p causing confusion)
  • Chinese:
    Mandarin: (English letter names are called as in English, no other standard Mandarin name exists)
  • Esperanto: bo (eo)
  • Finnish: bee (fi)
  • Hindi: बी (hi) (bī)
  • Japanese: ビー (ja) (bī)

[edit] Finnish

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bee

  1. The letter B, b.

[edit] Declension

Declension of bee (type maa)
singular plural
nominative bee beet
genitive been beiden
beitten
partitive beetä beitä
accusative bee
been		 beet
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

[edit] Latin

[edit] Interjection

bee!

  1. baa (sound of a sheep)

[edit] Mandinka

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bee

  1. (anatomy) vagina

[edit] Manx

[edit] Noun

bee m.

  1. food
  2. provisions
  3. nourishment
  4. diet

[edit] Verb

bee

  1. to be

[edit] Navajo

[edit] Postposition

bee

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

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Old Irish

[edit] Verb

bee

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

[edit] Tetum

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Noun

bee

  1. water
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