bee

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbiː/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, inherited from Old English bēo (“bee”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *bīōn,^[2][5] source also of Old Norse bý, Old High German bīa, bini (German Biene) and Middle Dutch bie (Dutch bij),^[2][3][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bhei- (“bee”).^[2] Barnhart and MWU note cognates outside Germanic such as Old Prussian bitte, Lithuanian bitis and Welsh bydaf, a nest of wild bees.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In compounds, bēowyrt, a plant (about 700), and the name Bēowulf (about 725);^[3] the insect itself before 900, in Alfred's Boethius.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The bee as a type of the busy worker is from 1535,^[6][2] and Word Origins dates busy as a bee to at least the 14th century.^[7] A meeting of neighbours to work together for one of them is American English by 1769, from the combined labour and sociability of the insect,^[2][6] as in raising-bee (1814), quilting bee and husking bee;^[2] MWU suggests instead a source in dialect been, help given by neighbours.^[4] It was extended to contests such as the spelling bee, by 1865.^[2] A head full of bees (1510s) denoted mad mental activity,^[2][7] and a bee in one's bonnet, said by Jamieson to be Scottish, is from 1825.^[2] The beeline, from the belief that bees fly straight home, is mid-19th-century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 700 – bēowyrt.^[3]
• before 900 – the insect.^[3]
• 1535 – a busy worker.^[6]
• 1769 – a working party (US).^[2]
• 1825 – a bee in one's bonnet.^[2]
• 1865 – spelling bee.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A winged, often stinging insect that gathers nectar and pollen, such as the honeybee or bumblebee.
2. (busy bee) An industrious person.
3. A gathering of people for work or a competition: a spelling bee.

Word family

• beelike
• Seabee
• apple bee
• husking bee
• quilting bee
• spelling bee

Related words

• Beowulf
• beehive
• beeline
• beeswax
• bumblebee
• honeybee

Usage notes

Unrelated words are bee, the letter b,^[8] and Scots and Yorkshire bee, a metal ring or ferrule,^[9] from Old English bēag, a ring.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)