bee English · revision 7787

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 700|origins=ine-pro *bʰey-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈbiː/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English, [[inh|ang|bēo|t=bee]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from Proto-Germanic *bīōn,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) source also of Old Norse bý, Old High German bīa, bini (German [[m|de|Biene]]) and Middle Dutch bie (Dutch [[m|nl|bij]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE [[ine-pro|*bʰey-|alt=*bhei-|t=bee]].^(Etymonline) Barnhart and MWU note cognates outside Germanic such as Old Prussian bitte, Lithuanian bitis and Welsh bydaf, a nest of wild bees.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In compounds, bēowyrt, a plant (about 700), and the name Bēowulf (about 725);^(Barnhart 1988) the insect itself before 900, in Alfred's Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The bee as a type of the busy worker is from 1535,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and Word Origins dates ''busy as a bee'' to at least the 14th century.^(Cresswell 2021) 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,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) as in raising-bee (1814), quilting bee and husking bee;^(Etymonline) MWU suggests instead a source in dialect been, help given by neighbours.^(MWU 2024) It was extended to contests such as the spelling bee, by 1865.^(Etymonline) ''A head full of bees'' (1510s) denoted mad mental activity,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) and ''a bee in one's bonnet'', said by Jamieson to be Scottish, is from 1825.^(Etymonline) The ''beeline'', from the belief that bees fly straight home, is mid-19th-century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 700 – bēowyrt.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 900 – the insect.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1535 – a busy worker.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1769 – a working party (US).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1825 – a bee in one's bonnet.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1865 – spelling bee.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A winged, often stinging [[insect]] that gathers [[nectar]] and pollen, such as the honeybee or bumblebee.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(busy bee)'' An industrious person.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A gathering of people for work or a competition: ''a spelling bee''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==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,^(AHD) and Scots and Yorkshire bee, a metal ring or ferrule,^(Wright 1898) from Old English bēag, a ring.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}