beekeeper
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of beekeeper
Explanation
A beekeeper is someone who manages bee hives and extracts honey. If you see a person wearing a white jumpsuit and a hat with a veil — and they're covered in buzzing insects — it's probably a beekeeper. If you want to get really fancy, you can call a beekeeper an apiarist. Beekeepers manage apiaries, or networks of honey bee hives. They care for the hives, making sure they are an ideal environment for the bees to live and make honey. It's also the beekeeper's job to carefully extract honeycomb without harming the bees. Many people keep bees as a hobby, yielding just a little bit of honey each year.
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.
A Riverside County beekeeper lost millions of bees in last week’s Verona fire and warns that the effects of the devastation will be widespread.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Funkhouser, a veteran commercial beekeeper, should have around 1,200 hives under his care.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
Mr Williamson, a County Armagh beekeeper, said this behaviour typically takes place from mid to late summer and can prevent bees from foraging, causing them to starve.
From BBC • Oct. 18, 2025
The locals say Agnes is the “child of a forest witch” and she is indeed extraordinary: an able herbalist, beekeeper and falconer.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2025
She still knows more about bees than anyone who isn’t an actual beekeeper because she got so into her sixth-grade science fair project.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
