bee

bee · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰey-
2. Proto-Germanic*bijǭ
3. Proto-West Germanic*bijā
4. Old Englishbēo
5. Middle Englishbe
6. English todaybee

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”). Cognates 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”).

bee · noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bōniz“prayer, request, supplication”
2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*bōni
3. Old English · derived frombēn“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”
4. Middle English · derived frombeen
5. English todaybee

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.

bee · noun³

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*baugaz
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*baug
3. Old English · inherited frombēah
4. Middle English · inherited frombie
5. English todaybee

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.

bee · verb⁴

Variant spellings.

bee · noun⁵

1. Latin · derived frombe
2. Old English · inherited frombe
3. Middle English · inherited from[Term?]
4. English todaybee

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English be, from Latin be (the name of the letter B).

bee · noun⁶

1. Old English · inherited frombēah“ring”
2. English todaybee

Probably from Old English bēah (“ring”). Compare bow.

Words from the same roots