Meanings
plural humblebees · alternative humble-bee
- archaicA bumblebee.
1800's, Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Humblebee Burly, dozing humblebee, Where thou art is clime for me.
2 more examples
The Fox, the Ape, and the Humble-Bee, Were ſtill at oddes being but three.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature [C4], versoHence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear.
1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Struggle for Existence”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 73–74
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishhumbul-be
- Englishhumblebee
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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
humblebee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humblebee
“humblebee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humblebee. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “humblebee,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humblebee.
Source: humblebee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.