bee

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

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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-, *bʰey- (compare Old Irish bech (“bee”), Welsh bydaf (“beehive”), Latin fūcus (“drone”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”)).

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees or (dialectal) been)

  1. 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.
    • 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, chapter 12, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      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?
    • 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, scene i:
      Where the bee sucks, there suck I,
      In a cowslip's bell I lie;
      There I couch when owls do cry;
      On the bat's back I do fly
      After summer merrily.
      Merrily, merrily shall I live now
      Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
    • 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[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from bee (noun)
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  2. A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
    geography bee
  4. 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[edit]
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.
Translations to be checked

  • Etymology 3[edit]

    • (Northern development of) Old English bēah.

    Noun[edit]

    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[edit]

    Variant spellings.

    Verb[edit]

    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
      Cride out, Now now Sir knight, shew what ye bee,

    Etymology 5[edit]

    From Middle English, from Old English be, from Latin be (the name of the letter B).

    Noun[edit]

    bee (plural bees)

    1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
    Translations[edit]
    See also[edit]

    Etymology 6[edit]

    Probably from Old English bēah (“ring”). Compare bow.

    Noun[edit]

    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[edit]

    References[edit]

    1. ^ http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bee
    2. ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bee%5B3%5D

    Anagrams[edit]

    Aiwoo[edit]

    Verb[edit]

    bee

    1. (intransitive) to grow

    References[edit]

    Aukan[edit]

    Etymology[edit]

    From English belly.

    Noun[edit]

    bee

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

    References[edit]

    Dumbea[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    bee

    1. fish

    References[edit]

    Estonian[edit]

    Noun[edit]

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

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

    Finnish[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    bee

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

    Usage notes[edit]

    • Speakers often use the corresponding forms of b-kirjain ("letter B, letter b") instead of inflecting this word, especially in plural.

    Declension[edit]

    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[edit]

    Hungarian[edit]

    Etymology[edit]

    An onomatopoeia.

    Pronunciation[edit]

    • IPA(key): [ˈbɛɛ]
    • Hyphenation: bee

    Interjection[edit]

    bee

    1. baa (sound of a sheep)

    See also[edit]

    Latin[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Interjection[edit]

    bēē

    1. baa (sound of a sheep)

    References[edit]

    Mandinka[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    bee

    1. (anatomy) vagina

    Manx[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Etymology 1[edit]

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

    Noun[edit]

    bee m (genitive singular bee, plural beeghyn)

    1. food
    2. provisions
    3. nourishment
    4. diet
    Derived terms[edit]

    Etymology 2[edit]

    See the etymology of the main entry.

    Verb[edit]

    bee

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

    Mutation[edit]

    Manx mutation
    Radical Lenition Eclipsis
    bee vee mee
    Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
    possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

    Middle English[edit]

    bee

    Alternative forms[edit]

    Etymology[edit]

    From Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijō.

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Noun[edit]

    bee (plural been or bees)

    1. A bee (insect that collects pollen)
      • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), lines 1693-1696:
        Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, / Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve / Twenty thousand freres on a route / And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute...
        Just like bees swarm from a hive / Out of the devil's arse there were driven / Twenty thousand friars on a rout / And throughout hell they swarmed all about...

    Descendants[edit]

    References[edit]

    Navajo[edit]

    Pronunciation[edit]

    Postposition[edit]

    bee

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

    Inflection[edit]

    Navajo postpositions
    singular duoplural
    1st person shee nihee
    2nd person nee nihee
    3rd person bee
    4th person (3o) yee
    4th person (3a) hee
    4th person (3i) ee —
    reflexive ádee —
    reciprocal — ahee

    Old Irish[edit]

    Verb[edit]

    bee

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

    Tetum[edit]

    bee

    Alternative forms[edit]

    Etymology[edit]

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

    Noun[edit]

    bee

    1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

    Võro[edit]

    Noun[edit]

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

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

    Inflection[edit]

    This noun needs an inflection-table template.

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