Africanized bee

noun

A hybrid of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), produced originally by crossbreeding of the East African lowland honey bee (A. m. scutellata) with various European honey bee subspecies such as the Italian honey bee (A. m. ligustica) and the Iberian honey bee (A. m. iberiensis), and known for being defensive and aggressive.

Similar
Africanized honey beekiller beeApis mellifera scutellataApis mellifera adansonii
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounAfricanized bee (plural Africanized bees)

plural Africanized bees

  1. A hybrid of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), produced originally by crossbreeding of the East African lowland honey bee (A. m. scutellata) with various European honey bee subspecies such as the Italian honey bee (A. m. ligustica) and the Iberian honey bee (A. m. iberiensis), and known for being defensive and aggressive.

    Synonyms: Africanized honey bee, killer bee

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA hybrid of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), produced originally by crossbreeding of the East African lowland honey bee (A. m. scutellata) with various European honey bee subspecies such as the Italian honey bee (A. m. ligustica) and the Iberian honey bee (A. m. iberiensis), and known for being defensive and aggressive.

Similar
Africanized honey beekiller bee

More synonyms by meaning

nouna strain of bees that originated in Brazil in the 1950s as a cross between an aggressive African bee and a honeybee; retains most of the traits of the African bee; now spread as far north as Texas

Similar
Africanized honey beekiller beeApis mellifera scutellataApis mellifera adansonii
Broader
honeybeeApis mellifera
Also see
africanized honey beekiller bee

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

Africanized bee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Africanized%20bee

MLA

“Africanized bee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Africanized%20bee. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Africanized bee,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Africanized%20bee.

Source: Africanized bee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.