beekeeper

American  

[bee-kee-per] / ˈbiˌki pər /

noun

1. a person who raises honeybees; apiculturist.

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beekeeper British  

/ ˈbiːˌkiːpə /

noun

1. a person who keeps bees for their honey; apiarist

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Other Word Forms

• beekeeping noun

Etymology

Origin of beekeeper

First recorded in 1810–20; bee ¹ + keeper

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

"There's not enough help," said Bartolo Quirino, a 42-year-old beekeeper.

From Barron's • Oct. 15, 2025

Fellow beekeeper Heleen Nieman told Dutch radio that she had three bee colonies and wanted to give him one of them.

From BBC • Oct. 9, 2025

The beekeeper, who sells his own honey from nearby Priorslee, said when bees did this they had "nothing to defend so tend not to be too aggressive".

From BBC • Jun. 16, 2025

Today, we employ two full-time farmers, five gardeners and a beekeeper.

From Salon • Nov. 29, 2024

Along the walls were topsy-turvy shelves of cookbooks and books about the history of baking and how to be a beekeeper.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova