Etymograph

English

bee

Bee comes from Middle English be, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰey-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰey-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bijǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bijāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bēo
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500be
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1499bee

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰey-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bijǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bijāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bēo
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500be
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1499bee

Earliest quotation: 1499, John Skelton: “His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge[…].”

Linked words

through Middle English be

be, 1 more

Another origin of bee

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’root as named
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-ni-suncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōjanąuncertain
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōniz‘prayer, request, supplication’uncertain
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōni‘prayer, request’uncertain
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150bēn‘prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service’uncertain
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500been‘neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request, extra service given by a tenant to his lord’uncertain
  8. English1500–presentbean‘help given by neighbours’uncertain
  9. Englishtodaybee

Possibly from dialectal bene, been, bean (‘help given by neighbours’), from Middle English been, bene (‘neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request, extra service given by a tenant to his lord’), from Old English bēn (‘prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service’), from Proto-West Germanic *bōni, from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (‘prayer, request, supplication’).

Another origin of bee

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbe‘the name of the letter B’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150be‘about (concerning)’
  3. Englishtodaybee

Another origin of bee

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150bēah‘ring’uncertain
  2. Englishtodaybee

Today it means

noun A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- / bee

Shirt and support for this word