bee

The word “bee” means a flying insect that collects pollen and nectar, and in many species produces honey and wax. In plain terms, the stinging, pollen-collecting insect — or, in another sense, a community event where people gather to do something together or compete.

“Bee” is pronounced BEE (/ˈbiː/ in IPA).

Here is “bee” used in a sentence: “A bee landed on the flower and began gathering pollen.”

Words with a similar meaning to “bee” include king of insects.

“Bee” is a noun.

The word “bee” comes from Old English. From Old English beo, tracing back through Proto-Germanic to a very old Proto-Indo-European root simply meaning "bee.".

“Bee” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Bee” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a flying insect that collects pollen and nectar, and in many species produces honey and wax.

A bee is a flying insect that collects pollen and nectar and often produces honey and wax, and it tends to be rounder and hairier. A wasp is a slimmer, smoother relative that does not make honey and is generally more aggressive.

In this sense a bee is a gathering where people come together to work on a task or to compete, such as a spelling bee, a quilting bee, or a sewing bee. The word names the social event, not the insect.

Bee is the general term for the pollen-collecting insect, while a bumblebee is one large, fuzzy, and typically loud type of bee. All bumblebees are bees, but not all bees are bumblebees.