Where does “honeybee” come from?
Honeybee is a compound of English honey and English bee, ultimately from English be.
honeybee (English): Alternative form of honey bee
Definitions
- Alternative form of honey bee
Ancestry of “honeybee”, step by step
honeybee traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English honey
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | honey | A viscous, sweet fluid produced from plant nectar... |
| 2 | Middle English | hony | Honey; Nectar; the secretion of flowers;... |
| 3 | Old English | huniġ | honey |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | hunag | honey |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *hunagą | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | hunangą | Alternative form of *hunagą |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kn̥h₂onk-o-s | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kn̥h₂ónks | honey |
via English Bee
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Bee | someone connected with Barnet Football Club, as a... |
| 2 | Middle English | been | to be; ben; plural of bee |
| 3 | Old English | bēn | prayer, request; prayer, request, petition,... |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | banjō | wound |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷʰon-yeh₂ | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷʰen- | to strike, slay, kill |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰon- | — |