honeycomb

English

Etymology

From Middle English hony combe, from Old English huniġcamb; equivalent to honey +‎ comb. The Oxford English Dictionary (s.v. "honeycomb") suggests that the arrangement of plates of wax (with honey) "hanging parallel to each other from the roof of the hive suggests a comb with its teeth".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌniːkəʊm/

Honeycomb with drone larvae and eggs.

Noun

honeycomb (plural honeycombs)

1. A structure of hexagonal cells made by bees primarily of wax, to hold their larvae and for storing the honey to feed the larvae and to feed themselves during winter.
2. Any structure resembling a honeycomb.

   The wood porch was a honeycomb of termite tunnels before we replaced it.

   • 1797 Adams, John, (Letter from John Adams to Uriah Forrest, June 20, 1797), compiled in Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, at https://web.archive.org/web/20080902041145/http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Notable_Comments_on_Jefferson_%28Contemporary%29

     [there is in Jefferson]...evidence of a mind soured, yet seeking for popularity, and eaten to a honeycomb with ambition....

3. (construction) voids left in concrete resulting from failure of the mortar to effectively fill the spaces among coarse aggregate particles.
4. (aviation) Manufactured material used manufacture light, stiff structural components using a sandwich design.
5. (solar cell) The texture of the surface of a solar cell, intended to increase its surface area and capture more sunlight.
6. (geometry) A space-filling packing of polytopes in 3- or higher-dimensional space.

Derived terms

• honeycomb conjecture
• honeycomb moth
• honeycomb stomach
• honeycomb tetter
• honeycomb toffee

Translations

structure of cells made by bees

• Armenian: մեղրախորիսխ (meġraxorisx)
• Azerbaijani: şan
• Bashkir: күҙәнәк (küźənək)
• Basque: aberaska
• Belarusian: со́ты m pl (sóty)
• Bulgarian: пчелна пита f (pčelna pita), пита (bg) f (pita)
• Catalan: bresca (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蜂巢 (fung¹ caau⁴)

  Mandarin: 蜂窩／蜂窝 (zh) (fēngwō), 蜂窝 (zh) (fēngwō), 蜂巢 (zh) (fēngcháo)

• Czech: plástev (cs) f
• Dutch: raat (nl) f, honingraat (nl) f, bijenraat f
• Erzya: керяз (keŕaz)
• Esperanto: mielĉelaro, (alternate spelling) mielcxelaro, (alternate spelling) mielchelaro
• Estonian: meekärg, kärg (et)
• Finnish: hunajakenno, kenno (fi)
• French: rayon de miel m, rayon de ruche m, alvéole d’abeille f, alvéole (fr) f
• Galician: antena (gl) f, entena f, favo m, panal m, trevo (gl) m, zarapata f
• German: Wabe (de) f, Bienenwabe (de) f, Honigwabe (de) f
• Greek: μελικηρίς f (melikirís), μελιτόκηρον n (melitókiron), μελόπηττα f (melópitta), κηρήθρα (el) f (kiríthra), μελισσοκόμικος (melissokómikos)

  Ancient: κηρίον n (kēríon), σχαδών f (skhadṓn)

• Hindi: छत्ता (hi) m (chattā), मधु कोष m (madhu koṣ)
• Hungarian: lép (hu)
• Icelandic: vaxkaka (is) f
• Ido: vabo (io)
• Irish: cíor mheala f
• Japanese: 蜂の巣 (はちのす, hachi no su), 蜂巣 (ja) (ほうそう, hōsō), ハニカム (hanikamu)
• Kazakh: ара ұясы (ara ūäsy)
• Korean: 벌집 (beoljip), 벌방 (beolbang)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: ,

• Kyrgyz: аары уясы (aarı uyası)
• Latin: favus m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kāre f, šūna f
• Lithuanian: korys m
• Luxembourgish: Ros f, Wab f
• Macedonian: саќе n (saḱe)
• Maori: honikoma
• Mongolian: зөгийн сархинаг (zögiin sarxinag)
• Navajo: tsísʼná bitsiiʼáál
• Persian: شان (fa) (šân), شان عسل (šân-e asal)
• Polish: plaster miodu, plaster (pl) m
• Portuguese: favo (pt) m
• Romanian: fagure (ro)
• Russian: со́ты (ru) m pl (sóty)
• Scottish Gaelic: cìr-mheala f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: саће n pl, (obsolete) сат m

  Roman: saće (sh) n pl, (obsolete) sat (sh) m

• Slovak: plást m
• Slovene: sat m, satovje n
• Spanish: panal (es) m
• Swedish: vaxkaka (sv) c, bikaka (sv) c
• Tagalog: anila
• Tajik: шонаи асал (šonayi asal)
• Thai: รังผึ้ง (rang-pʉ̂ng)
• Tibetan: སྦྲང་ཚང (sbrang tshang)
• Turkish: petek (tr)
• Ukrainian: сті́льник m (stílʹnyk)
• Urdu: چھتا m (chattā), مدھو کوش m (madhu koś)
• Uzbek: mumkatak, asalari uyasi
• Vietnamese: tảng ong
• Volapük: mielaziöbem (vo), (alternate spellng) mielazioybem, (older term, obsolete) mielaväk
• Walloon: raive (wa) f, tortea d' låme m, raiye di låme f
• Welsh: crwybr m

any similar structure

• Finnish: kennosto (fi)
• Japanese: ハニカム (hanikamu)
• Russian: со́ты (ru) m pl (sóty)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: саће n pl, (obsolete) сат m

  Roman: saće (sh) n pl, (obsolete) sat (sh) m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Welsh: crwybr m

voids left in concrete

• Finnish: huokoset (fi) pl
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

aviation: light material

• Finnish: kennosto (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

solar cell surface texture

• Finnish: kennosto (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

honeycomb (third-person singular simple present honeycombs, present participle honeycombing, simple past and past participle honeycombed)

1. To riddle something with holes, especially in such a pattern.

   Termites will honeycomb a porch made of untreated pine.

See also

• favaginous
• beeswax