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honeycomb

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Etymology and origin of the English word honeycomb

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1050 before 1050, Old English More words from the 11th century
Ultimate origin
Old English hunigcamb

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈhʌnikəʊm/[1]
  • US: /ˈhʌniˌkoʊm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English honi-comb,[2][3] inherited from Old English hunigcamb,[2][4][5][6] formed from Old English hunig (“honey”) + camb (“comb”).[4][7] The usual Old English word was bēobrēad, and Bosworth–Toller cites the two together for Latin favus.[7][6] Etymonline finds this use of comb peculiar to English, with a likeness that is not obvious, and wonders whether the image is of a wool comb, although that sense is not recorded before Middle English;[2] Ayto calls the origin of the application unknown.[8] Other Germanic languages use words meaning "honey-string", "honey-cake" or "bee-wafer".[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wax structure of cells made by bees: in the Old English Regularis Concordia,[7] before 1050 in Dictionary.com's dating.[9] Merriam-Webster says before the 12th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the word was used figuratively for anything sweet or desirable,[7] and Chaucer's Miller's Tale has it as a term of endearment.[7][3] Middle English also had it for a kind of pustule on the scalp.[3] The likeness to a mass of cells gave the extended sense "something full of holes", recorded from before 1398 in Trevisa,[7] though Etymonline dates transferred uses only to the 1520s.[2] Palsgrave (1530) has it for a metal defect of small cavities,[7] and Sir Thomas Browne (1658) for the second stomach of a ruminant, whose lining looks like one.[7] The verb, "to fill with cavities", came from the noun: the OED's first quotation is from 1735,[7][4] but Etymonline finds it implied in honeycombed in the 1620s.[2] The figurative verb sense of undermining something through and through dates from 1821.[7] The 20th century brought technical uses, a structure used in wind tunnels to steady the air flow (1911) and light, strong manufactured materials (1946),[7] while the crunchy sweet goes back to 1857.[7]

Timeline

  • Old English – a wax structure made by bees; figuratively, something sweet.[7][6]
  • before 1398 – something full of cells or holes.[7]
  • c. 1405 – a term of endearment, in Chaucer.[7][3]
  • 1530 – a defect of small cavities in metal, especially in a gun.[7]
  • 1658 – the second stomach of a ruminant.[7]
  • 1735 – verb, to fill with cells or cavities.[7][4]
  • 1821 – verb, figuratively, to penetrate and weaken.[7]
  • 1857 – a crunchy sweet full of air holes.[7]
  • 1911 – a cellular structure placed in a wind tunnel.[7]
  • 1946 – a light, strong manufactured material with this structure.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mass of six-sided wax cells built by bees, in which they store honey and raise their young.[10][4][7]
  2. Anything that resembles this in structure or appearance, full of cells or cavities.[10][7]
  3. The reticulum, the second stomach of a ruminant.[10][7]
  4. A light, strong manufactured material with a cellular structure.[7]
  5. Chiefly in British and Australian use, a crunchy confection full of air holes.[7]
  6. (archaic) A term of endearment; sweetheart.[7][3]

Verb

  1. To fill with cavities or passages: Old mine workings honeycomb the hillside.[10][4][7]
  2. To penetrate through and through, so as to weaken or undermine.[7][11]
  3. To decorate with a honeycomb pattern.[7]

Word family

  • honeycomb tripe

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • knot · also from Old English
  • slack · also from Old English
  • rot · also from Old English
  • wrath · also from Old English
  • idle · also from Old English
  • creed · also from Old English
  • chalk · also from Old English
  • grim · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Honeycomb.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/honeycomb. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·