Meanings
plural bumblebees · alternative bumble-bee · alternative bumble bee
- Any of several species of large bee in the genus Bombus.
The bumblebee's mane glowed in the morning light—each hair sharp and distinct to Eragon—and its blurred wings generated a gentle bombilation, like a tattoo played on a drum. Pollen powdered the bristles on its legs.
2008, Christopher Paolini, “Rider and Ra'zac”, in Brisingr, page 69Synonyms: dumbledore, humblebee
- A mid yellow, sometimes slightly orange.
- A layered drink with ice whose main ingredients are orange juice and espresso coffee.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of several species of large bee in the genus Bombus.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ukrainianджміль
- Middle Englishbombeln“to boom, buzz”
- Middle Englishhumbul-be
- Englishbumblebee
1520s from bumble + bee, replacing Middle English humbul-be. Merged with Middle English bombeln (“to boom, buzz”), in the late 14th century. The name of the drink is a semantic loan from Ukrainian джміль (džmilʹ).
More words from Middle English, Ukrainian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans hommel
- hommelgenus of bee
Ancient Greek βομβυλιός
- βομβυλιός (bombuliós)genus of bee
Arabic طَنَّانَة, نَحْلَة
- طَنَّانَة (ṭannāna)genus of bee
- نَحْلَة (naḥla)genus of bee
Basque erlastar
- erlastargenus of bee
Bulgarian земна пчела́
- земна пчела́ (zemna pčelá)genus of bee
Catalan borinot, abellot
- borinotgenus of bee
- abellotgenus of bee
Chinese Cantonese 熊蜂
- 熊蜂genus of bee
Chinese Mandarin 大黃蜂 /大黄蜂, 熊蜂
- 大黃蜂 /大黄蜂 (dàhuángfēng)genus of bee
- 熊蜂 (xióngfēng)genus of bee
Czech čmelák
- čmelákgenus of bee
Danish humlebi
- humlebigenus of bee
Dutch hommel
- hommelgenus of bee
Esperanto burdo
- burdogenus of bee
Estonian kimalane
- kimalanegenus of bee
Finnish kimalainen
- kimalainengenus of bee
French bourdon
- bourdongenus of bee
German Hummel
- Hummelgenus of bee
Greek βόμβος, βομβίνος
- βόμβος (vómvos)genus of bee
- βομβίνος (vomvínos)genus of bee
- μπάμπουρας (bámpouras)genus of bee
Hebrew דבור
- דבור (dabur)genus of bee
Hindi भँवर, भँवरा
- भँवर (bhãvar)genus of bee
- भँवरा (bhãvrā)genus of bee
- भ्रमर (bhramar)genus of bee
- भृंग (bhŕṅg)genus of bee
- भौंरा (bha͠urā)genus of bee
Hungarian dongó, poszméh
- dongógenus of bee
- poszméhgenus of bee
Icelandic hunangsfluga
- hunangsflugagenus of bee
Irish bumbóg, beach fhiáin
- bumbóggenus of bee
- beach fhiáingenus of bee
Italian bombo
- bombogenus of bee
Japanese 円花蜂, 丸花蜂
- 円花蜂 (maruhanabachi)genus of bee
- 丸花蜂 (maruhanabachi)genus of bee
- マルハナバチ (maruhanabachi)genus of bee
Korean 뒝벌, 뒤영벌
- 뒝벌 (dwengbeol)genus of bee
- 뒤영벌 (dwiyeongbeol)genus of bee
- 호박벌 (hobakbeol)genus of bee
Latin bombus
- bombusgenus of bee
Latvian kamene
- kamenegenus of bee
Lithuanian kamanė
- kamanėgenus of bee
Māori pīrorohū
- pīrorohūgenus of bee
Norwegian Bokmål humle
- humlegenus of bee
Persian برمر
- برمر (barmar)genus of bee
Polish trzmiel, bąk
- trzmielgenus of bee
- bąkgenus of bee
- trzmieliced drink of layered orange juice and espresso
- kolor trzmielowymid-yellow colour
Portuguese abelhão, mamangaba
- abelhãogenus of bee
- mamangabagenus of bee
- mangangágenus of bee
Punjabi ਭੰਵਰ, ਭੰਵਰਾ
- ਭੰਵਰ (bhãvar)genus of bee
- ਭੰਵਰਾ (bhãvrā)genus of bee
Romanian bondar, bărzăun
- bondargenus of bee
- bărzăungenus of bee
Russian шмель
- шмель (šmelʹ)genus of bee
Scottish Gaelic seillean mòr, seillean-dubh
- seillean mòrgenus of bee
- seillean-dubhgenus of bee
Slovak čmeľ, čmeliak
- čmeľgenus of bee
- čmeliakgenus of bee
Spanish abejorro, abejarrón
- abejorrogenus of bee
- abejarróngenus of bee
- abejóngenus of bee
- moscardóngenus of bee
- jicotegenus of bee
Swedish humla
- humlagenus of bee
Tagalog himbubuyog, bubuyog
- himbubuyoggenus of bee
- bubuyoggenus of bee
Tamil வண்டுத்தேனீ
- வண்டுத்தேனீ (vaṇṭuttēṉī)genus of bee
Thai ผึ้งมีขนตัวใหญ่ที่ส่งเสียงหึ่งๆ, ผึ้งหึ่ง
- ผึ้งมีขนตัวใหญ่ที่ส่งเสียงหึ่งๆ (pêung mee kŏn dtua yài tĕe sòng sĭang hèung-hèung)genus of bee
- ผึ้งหึ่ง (pʉ̂ng-hʉ̀ng)genus of bee
Turkish hezen arısı, bombus
- hezen arısıgenus of bee
- bombusgenus of bee
- tüylü arıgenus of bee
Ukrainian джміль, джміль
- джміль (džmilʹ)genus of bee
- джміль (džmilʹ)iced drink of layered orange juice and espresso
Urdu بھنور, بھنورا
- بھنور (bhãvar)genus of bee
- بھنورا (bhãvrā)genus of bee
- بھرمر (bhramar)genus of bee
Vietnamese ong nghệ
- ong nghệgenus of bee
Welsh cacynen, cachgi bwm
- cacynengenus of bee
- cachgi bwmgenus of bee
- gwenynen wylltgenus of bee
- cacynen y tewlaethgenus of bee
Yiddish זשומזשע
- זשומזשע (zhumzhe)genus of bee
Cite this entry
bumblebee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumblebee
“bumblebee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumblebee. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bumblebee,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumblebee.
Source: bumblebee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.