Where does “bees” come from?
Bees derives from English be, ultimately tracing through English by and English be in a semantic lineage of uncertain meaning.
bees (English): plural of bee
Definitions
- plural of bee
Ancestry of “bees”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | bee | A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within... |
| 2 | Middle English | bee | A bee |
| 3 | Old English | bēo | I become, I will be, I am; bee |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | biumi | first-person singular present active indicative... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *beuną | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰew- | to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to... |