honeybee

American  

[huhn-ee-bee] / ˈhʌn iˌbi /

Or honey bee

noun

• honeybees
  plural

1. any bee that collects and stores honey, especially Apis mellifera.

---

honeybee British  

/ ˈhʌnɪˌbiː /

noun

1. Also called: hive bee.  any of various social honey-producing bees of the genus Apis, esp A. mellifera, which has been widely domesticated as a source of honey and beeswax

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• honeybees
  plural

Etymology

Origin of honeybee

First recorded in 1560–70; honey + bee ¹

Explanation

Honeybees are the winged insects that beekeepers like best, because they naturally produce extra honey and can be raised to produce the sweet, sticky stuff. Honeybees, as their name implies, make a lot of honey, storing surplus amounts in their waxy hives. Humans have domesticated two species of honeybee, raising them for the extra honey they produce. You can tell the difference between a bumblebee, which is native to North America, and a honeybee, native to Africa, Asia, and Europe, by comparing their bodies. Honeybees are slim, with a distinct head, while bumblebees are fat and fuzzy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

honeybee honeybees

The results suggest that combining pollen from different plants and then processing it through nurse bees may allow honeybee colonies to compensate for the nutritional shortcomings of individual pollen sources.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Couvillon's lab also examined brain chemicals involved in honeybee behavior, including amino acids and neurotransmitters.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

A Virginia Tech study found that glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, can interfere with honeybee foraging and may undermine the long-term stability of colonies.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

Beekeepers across the country reported losing as much as 62% of their managed honeybee colonies in 2025, raising serious concerns about food production.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 20, 2026

She would don her crisp scarlet vest with its three honeybee buttons.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

For honeybees, this is around 49°C – which might sound high, yet ground surfaces exceeded 50°C in the UK heatwaves this summer.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Newly emerged worker honeybees were then given these diets during controlled laboratory experiments.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Bumblebees cannot collect water in the way honeybees do, they get most of the liquid they need from nectar, so wetter nectar can help make colonies more resilient in hot weather.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Research has found acetamiprid can poison honeybees, affecting their foraging capacity and memory, while a 2024 study suggested flupyradifurone could be lethal to some bees.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

I’ve read about sea animals and honeybees, and all about a beautiful piece of math called the Fibonacci sequence.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy