bumblebee
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of bumblebee
Explanation
A bumblebee is a large, flying insect that pollenates flowers. Bumblebees are fatter and fuzzier than honeybees. They may look cute, but they can still sting you. A bumblebee is a completely different species than a honeybee, though it does make honey. Bumblebees produce honey in much smaller quantities, and it isn't harvested and eaten by people. Bumblebees also live in smaller groups, of up to four hundred bees, compared to honeybees' hives that have as many as 60,000 bees. In some places, they're called humblebees, from the Middle English humbul-be, which echoes the "hum" of a bee.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The final section of amphibians, insects and fish, has: the Atlantic salmon, the basking shark, the buff-tailed bumblebee, the common frog, the Emperor dragonfly, and the marsh fritillary butterfly.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
“If you were a bumblebee, a moth, or a short-tongued solitary bee, how might you approach this bloom?”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
A daisy tinged with ultraviolet petals signals to a bumblebee: dinner’s served.
From Salon • Nov. 16, 2024
The rusty-patched bumblebee was the first bee species to be federally listed as endangered in 2017 through the U.S.
From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2024
A soaking bumblebee crawled over a thistle bloom, vibrated its wings for a few seconds and then flew away down the field.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
