English
A jar of honey, with a honey dipper and scones
Etymology
From Middle English hony, honi , from Old English huniġ , from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare West Frisian hunich , German Honig ), from earlier *hunangą (compare Swedish honung ), from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂onk-o-s , from *kn̥h₂ónks . Cognate with Middle Welsh canecon ( “ gold ” ) , Latin canicae pl ( “ bran ” ) , Tocharian B kronkśe ( “ bee ” ) , Albanian qengjë ( “ beehive ” ) , Ancient Greek κνῆκος ( knêkos , “ safflower ” ) , Kurdish .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈhʌni/
Rhymes: -ʌni
Hyphenation: hon‧ey
Noun
honey (usually uncountable , plural honeys )
( uncountable ) A viscous , sweet fluid produced from plant nectar by bees. Often used to sweeten tea or to spread on baked goods.
( countable ) A variety of this substance.
1908 , United States. Bureau of Chemistry, Bulletin [1] , numbers 110-114 :The physical properties of the different honeys , color, granulation, aroma, flavor, etc., are indicated in the table only in a very general way.
1949 , Roy A. Grout, editor, The Hive and the Honey Bee [2] :If two of the California honeys , western hyssop and fleabane, having a positive polarization at 200 C. are disregarded, then the remaining...
2011 , Stephen Taylor, Advances in Food and Nutrition Research [3] , volume 62 :Eucalyptus honeys could be characterized based on seven volatile compounds, whereas lavender honeys had only five...
( rare ) Nectar .
( figuratively ) Something sweet or desirable.
1595 , William Shakespeare , Romeo and Juliet , Act 5, Scene 3, lines 91–93:
O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
(Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
the honey of his language
A term of affection.
Honey , would you take out the trash?
Honey , I'm home.
( countable , informal ) A woman , especially an attractive one.
Man, there are some fine honeys here tonight!
A spectrum of pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like that of most types of (the sweet substance) honey.
honey:
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Descendants
Translations
sweet substance produced by bees
Abkhaz: ацха ( acxa )
Adyghe: шъоу ( šʷowu ) , суэу ( sɛwu )
Afrikaans: heuning
Akkadian: 𒋭 ( dišpu )
Albanian: mjaltë (sq) m
Amharic: ማር ( mar )
Arabic: عَسَل (ar) m ( ʕasal ) , شَهْد (ar) m ( šahd )
Egyptian Arabic: عسل m ( ʕásal )
Gulf Arabic: عَسَل ( ʿəsəl )
Moroccan Arabic: عْسل m ( ʿsəl )
Aragonese: miel f
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܕܒܫܐ m ( deḇšā )
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: דּוּבְשָׁא m ( dûḇšā )
Armenian: մեղր (hy) ( meġr )
Old Armenian: մեղր ( mełr )
Aromanian: njari f , njare f
Assamese: মৌ ( mou ) , মৌজোল ( mouzül )
Asturian: miel m
Aymara: misk'i (ay)
Azerbaijani: bal (az)
Baluchi: شہد ( šahad ) , بینگ ( benag )
Bashkir: бал ( bal )
Basque: ezti
Belarusian: мёд (be) m ( mjod )
Bengali: মধু ( modhu )
Berber:
Tashelhit: tammnt f
Breton: mel (br) m
Bulgarian: мед (bg) m ( med )
Burmese: ပျားရည် (my) ( pya:rany )
Buryat: бал ( bal ) , зүгын бал ( zügyn bal )
Catalan: mel (ca) f
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵎⵎⵏⵜ f ( tammnt )
Chamicuro: mishki
Chechen: моз ( moz )
Cherokee: ᏩᏚᎵᏏ ( wadulisi )
Cheyenne: háhnomápano'ėhasēō'o
Chichewa: uchi
Chinese:
Cantonese: 蜂蜜 ( fung1 mat6 ) , 蜜糖 ( mat6 tong4 )
Dungan: фынми ( fɨnmi )
Hakka: 蜂糖 ( phûng-thòng, fûng-thòng )
Mandarin: 蜂蜜 (zh) ( fēngmì ) , 蜜 (zh) ( mì ) , 蜂糖 (zh) ( fēngtáng )
Min Dong: 蜂蜜 ( pŭng-mĭk )
Min Nan: 蜂蜜 (zh-min-nan) ( phang-bi̍t, hong-bi̍t ) , 蜜 (zh-min-nan) ( bi̍t )
Wu: 蜂蜜 ( fon miq )
Chuvash: пыл ( pyl )
Cornish: mel m
Corsican: mele (co)
Crimean Tatar: bal
Czech: med (cs) m
Dalmatian: mil m
Danish: honning (da) c
Dargwa: варъа ( varʾa )
Darkinjung: kûdyung
Daur: kyor
Dhivehi: މާމުއި ( māmui )
Dupaningan Agta: habu
Dutch: honing (nl) m
Erzya: медь ( meď ) , поназ ( ponaz )
Esperanto: mielo (eo)
Estonian: mesi (et)
Evenki: мё̄д ( mjōd )
Ewe: anyĩtsi
Faroese: hunangur m , hunang n
Finnish: hunaja (fi)
French: miel (fr) m
Frisian:
North Frisian: honning m
Saterland Frisian: Huunich m
West Frisian: huning (fy) m
Friulian: mîl f
Galician: mel (gl) m
Gamilaraay: warrul
Georgian: თაფლი ( tapli )
German: Honig (de) m
Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌸 n ( miliþ )
Greek: μέλι (el) n ( méli )
Ancient: μέλῐ n ( méli )
Guaraní: eirete (gn)
Gujarati: મધુ ( madhu )
Haitian Creole: siwo myèl
Hawaiian: meli
Hebrew: דְּבַשׁ (he) m ( dvash )
Hindi: मधु (hi) m ( madhu ) , शहद (hi) m ( śahad )
Hungarian: méz (hu)
Icelandic: hunang (is) n
Ido: mielo (io)
Inari Sami: mietâ
Indonesian: madu (id)
Interlingua: melle (ia)
Interlingue: Lua error in Module:translations at line 71 : Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
Inuktitut: missuuttagaq ( missuuttagaq )
Irish: mil (ga) f
Old Irish: mil f
Istro-Romanian: mľåre f
Italian: miele (it) m
Japanese: 蜂蜜 (ja) ( はちみつ, hachimitsu )
Jarawa: lə:w
Jingpho: lagat jahku
Kabardian: фо ( fo )
Kalmyk: бал ( bal )
Kamba: ũkĩ
Kannada: ಜೇನು (kn) ( jēnu )
Kashubian: miód m
Kazakh: бал (kk) ( bal )
Khmer: ទឹកឃ្មុំ ( tɨk khmum )
Kikuyu: ũũkĩ class 14
Komi-Permyak: ма ( ma )
Korean: 꿀 (ko) ( kkul ) , 밀 (ko) ( mil )
Kurdish: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Kurmanji: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Sorani: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Kyrgyz: бал (ky) ( bal )
Ladin: mil
Ladino:
Hebrew: מייל f
Latin: myel f
(deprecated template usage ) {{trans-mid }}
Lao: ມະທຸ ( ma thu ) , ນ້ຳເຜີ້ງ ( nam phœ̄ng )
Latgalian: mads m
Latin: mel (la) n
Latvian: medus (lv) m
Lezgi: виртӏ ( virṭ )
Ligurian: amê
Limburgish: heuning (li) m
Lithuanian: medus (lt) m , medùs (lt) m
Low German: Honnig (nds) m
Luganda: bóí
Luxembourgish: Hunneg m
Macedonian: мед m ( med )
Malagasy: fandrama (mg)
Malay: madu , air lebah
Malayalam: തേൻ (ml) ( tēṉ )
Maltese: għasel m
Manchu: ᡥᡳᠪᠰᡠ ( hibsu )
Mansi: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "mns" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Manx: mill m
Marathi: मध m ( madh )
Mari:
Eastern Mari: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "chm" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Western Mari: мӱ ( mü )
Megleno-Romanian: m'ari f
Moksha: медь ( meď )
Mongolian: бал (mn) ( bal ) , зөийн бал ( zöiin bal )
Nahuatl: neuctli (nah) , necti
Navajo: tsísʼná bitłʼizh
Neapolitan: mmiele n
Nepali: मह ( maha )
Newar: कस्ति ( kasti )
Ngazidja Comorian: ndjizi ya nyoshi
Norman: ( Jersey ) myi m , ( Normandy ) mié m , ( Guernsey ) miel m
Northern Sami: miehta
Norwegian:
Bokmål: honning (no) m
Nynorsk: honning m
Occitan: mèl (oc) m or f
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: медъ m ( medŭ )
Glagolitic: ⰿⰵⰴⱏ m ( medŭ )
Old English: huniġ n
Old High German: honag
Old Norse: hunang n
Old Prussian: meddo
Oriya: ମହୁ (or) ( mahu )
Oromo: damma (om)
Osage: hkilǫ́ɣemąį
Ossetian: ( Digor ) муд ( mud ) , ( Iron ) мыд ( myd )
Pashto: ګبينه m pl ( gabinǝ́ ) , شات (ps) m pl ( šāt ) , انګبين m pl ( angabín ) , شهد m pl ( šahd ) , عسل (ps) ( 'asál )
Persian: عسل (fa) ( 'asal ) , انگبین (fa) ( angebin, angobin ) , انگوین ( angovin ) , شهد (fa) ( šahd )
Polish: miód (pl) m inan
Portuguese: mel (pt) m
Punjabi: ਸ਼ਹਿਦ (pa) ( śahid )
Quechua: misk'i
Romanian: miere (ro) f
Romansch: mel m , mel d'avieuls m , mèl m , mèl d'aviuls m , meal m , mêl m , meil d'aviöls m
Russian: мёд (ru) m ( mjod )
Rusyn: мед m ( med )
Rwanda-Rundi: ubuki class 14
Sanskrit: मधु (sa) n ( madhu )
Sardinian: mele
Scottish Gaelic: mil f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ме̑д m
Roman: mȇd (sh) m
Shor: пал ( pal )
Sicilian: meli (scn) m
Silesian: miód m , mjodek m
Sinhalese: පැණි ( pæṇi ) , පැනි ( pæni )
Slovak: med (sk) m
Slovene: med (sl) m
Somali: malab m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: mjod m
Upper Sorbian: měd m
Spanish: miel (es) f
Svan: თვი ( tvi )
Swahili: uki (sw) class 11 , asali (sw)
Swedish: honung (sv) c
Tagalog: pulut-pukyutan
Tajik: асал (tg) ( asal ) , шахд ( šaxd )
Talysh: ( Asalemi ) عسل ( asal )
Tamil: தேன் (ta) ( tēṉ )
Tatar: бал (tt) ( bal )
Telugu: తేనె (te) ( tēne )
Tetum: bani-been
Thai: น้ำผึ้ง (th) ( nám-pʉ̂ng )
Tibetan: སྦྲང་རྩི ( sbrang rtsi )
Tigrinya: መዓር ( mäʿar )
Tocharian B: mit
Tupinambá: eíra , eireté
Turkish: bal (tr)
Turkmen: bal (tk)
Udmurt: му ( mu )
Ugaritic: 𐎐𐎁𐎚 ( nbt )
Ukrainian: мед m ( med ) , мід m ( mid )
Umbundu: owiki
Urdu: مدھو m ( madhu ) , شہد m ( šahd ) , عسل m ( 'asal ) , انگبین m ( angabīn )
Uyghur: ھەسەل ( hesel )
Uzbek: asal (uz)
Venetian: miel m
Veps: mezi
Vietnamese: mật ong (vi)
Volapük: miel (vo)
Voro: mesi
Votic: mesi
Walloon: låme (wa) f
Welsh: mêl (cy) m
West Flemish: zêem
Western Apache: gosnih
Westrobothnian: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "gmq-bot" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Yakut: мүөт ( müöt )
Yiddish: האָניק m ( honik )
Yup'ik: paatakaarngalnguq
Zazaki: hıngımên
something sweet or desirable
term of affection
Arabic: حَبِيبِي (ar) ( ḥabībī )
Armenian: սիրելիս ( sirelis )
Bulgarian: мила (bg) f ( mila )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 寶貝 / 宝贝 (zh) ( bǎobèi ) , 宝贝 (zh) ( bǎobèi ) , 親愛的 / 亲爱的 (zh) ( qīn'ài de ) , 亲爱的 (zh) ( qīn'àide ) , 哈你 ( hānǐ )
Danish: skat (da) c
Dutch: schat (nl) m , schatje (nl) n
Erzya: вечкемнем ( večkemńem )
Esperanto: karulo , karulino
Estonian: kallis (et)
Finnish: kulta (fi) , kultanen
French: chéri (fr) m , chérie (fr) f
German: Schatz (de) m
Greek: γλύκα (el) f ( glýka ) , γλυκιά (el) f ( glykiá )
Gujarati: દીકું ( dīkũ )
Hebrew: מותק (he) ( motek ) , חביבי m ( havivi ) , חביבתי f ( havivati )
Icelandic: elskan f
Ido: karo (io)
Italian: carino (it) m , tesoro (it) m , gioia (it) f
(deprecated template usage ) {{trans-mid }}
Japanese: ハニー ( hāni ) , あなた (ja) ( anata ) ( wife to husband )
Korean: 여보 (ko) ( yeobo ) , 자기 (ko) ( jagi )
Kurdish:
Sorani: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290 : Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E .
Latvian: mīļais m , mīļā f
Luxembourgish: Schazi , Häerzi
Macedonian: шеќерче n ( šeḱerče )
Malay: sayang (ms)
Polish: kochanie (pl)
Portuguese: querida (pt) f , querido (pt) m
Romanian: iubit (ro) m , iubită (ro) f , drag (ro) m , dragă (ro) f
Russian: ду́шенька (ru) f ( dúšenʹka ) , голу́бушка (ru) f ( golúbuška ) , ми́лая (ru) f ( mílaja )
Scottish Gaelic: rùn m , rùnag f
Slovak: miláčik m
Spanish: cariño (es) , tesoro (es) m , cari (es)
Swahili: asali (sw)
Swedish: älskling (sv) c
Turkish: balım (tr) , tatlım
Adjective
honey (not comparable )
Involving or resembling honey.
1599 William Shakespeare, Henry V , act 1, scene 2:
So work the honey -bees, / Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
Of a pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like most types of honey.
Translations
involving or resembling honey
Translations to be checked
Verb
honey (third-person singular simple present honeys , present participle honeying , simple past and past participle honeyed )
( transitive ) To sweeten; to make agreeable.
( intransitive ) To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments.
(Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Honeying and making love.
( intransitive ) To be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn.
Derived terms
See also
other entries of interest