humblebee
noun
Forms humblebees humble-bee
- noun (archaic) A bumblebee.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English humbul-be, humbulbe, hombul-be, from *humbul (“bumblebee”) + be (“bee”).
See also West Frisian hommel (“bumblebee”), Dutch hommel (“bumblebee”), German Low German Hummel (“bumblebee”), German Hummel (“bumblebee”), Swedish humla (“bumblebee”), Norwegian humle (“bumblebee”); also cognate with Dutch hommelbij (“bumblebee”), Danish humlebi (“bumblebee”). Compare also English humble (“to hum”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The bumblebee. Shak.
Etymology [OE. humbilbee, hombulbe; cf. D. hommel, G. hummel, OHG. humbal, Dan. humle, Sw. humla; perh. akin to hum. sq. root15. Cf. Bumblebee.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “humblebee”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details