“bees” is a form of
bee
/ˈbiː/ noun, proper noun
Forms bees been
- noun A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.
- noun (informal, proscribed) Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
- noun A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee. “geography bee”
- noun A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
- noun (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
- noun The name of the Latin script letter B/b.
- noun (nautical, usually in the plural) Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
- noun (soccer) someone connected with Barnet Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- proper noun A diminutive of the female given name Beatrice.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English be, bee, beo, bey, from Old English bēo, bīo (“bee”), from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijǭ (“bee”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- (“bee”).
Cognate with Yola been (“bees”), North Frisian bi (“bee”), West Frisian bij (“bee”), Dutch bij, by (“bee”), German Biene (“bee”), Limburgish Bé, bie (“bee”), Luxembourgish Bei (“bee”), Vilamovian byn (“bee”), West Flemish bieë (“bee”), Yiddish בין (bin, “bee”), Danish and Swedish bi (“bee”), Faroese býfluga (“bee”), Icelandic bý, býfluga (“bee”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bie (“bee”); also Irish beach, meach (“bee”), Scottish Gaelic beach (“bee; beehive; wasp”), Latin fūcus (“bee”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Lithuanian bitė (“bee”), Belarusian пчала́ (pčalá, “bee”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”), Czech včála, včela (“bee”), Polish pszczoła (“bee”), Serbo-Croatian пчѐла, bčela, pčèla (“bee”), Slovak včela (“bee”), Slovene čebela (“bee”), Ukrainian бджола́ (bdžolá, “bee”), Ossetian биндзӕ (binʒæ), бындз (bynʒ, “fly”), Pashto وينه (waynë́, wenë́, wuynë́, “termite; white ant”).
Possibly from dialectal bene, been, bean (“help given by neighbours”), from Middle English been, bene (“neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request, extra service given by a tenant to his lord”), from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōni, from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request, supplication”).
Thus a variant of obsolete ben (“prayer; petition”) and doublet of boon. Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Dutch ban (“curse”), German Bann (“ban”). More at ban.
From Middle English bie, from Old English bēah, bēag, from Proto-West Germanic *baug, from Proto-Germanic *baugaz. Doublet of beag, a learned borrowing; and of bagel.
From Middle English [Term?], from Old English be, from Latin be (the name of the letter B).
Webster’s 1913
- noun An insect of the order Hymenoptera, and family Apidæ (the honeybees), or family Andrenidæ (the solitary bees.) See Honeybee.
- noun A neighborly gathering of people who engage in united labor for the benefit of an individual or family; as, a quilting bee; a husking bee; a raising bee. [U. S.]
Etymology [AS. beó; akin to D. bij and bije, Icel. b, Sw. & Dan. bi, OHG. pini, G. biene, and perh. Ir. beach, Lith. bitis, Skr. bha. sq. root97.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bee”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details