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

They compared honeybee and bumblebee colonies located side by side in Cambridgeshire, England, where soil contamination is generally considered low.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

For many years, scientists believed the recipe for creating a queen honeybee was straightforward: give a developing larva plenty of royal jelly, and it becomes the colony's ruler.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

The researchers observed the same pattern in both Asian and European honeybee species, suggesting this strategy evolved long ago and may be widespread among honeybees.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

Genetic studies reveal that they combine traits from at least four honeybee lineages, including African, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Western European bees.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 20, 2026

No one noticed the moon-faced boy in the flat cap, or the honeybee that drifted from his mouth, tested the sooty air, then dove back from whence it came.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

Glyphosate exposure is not usually fatal to honeybees, but the researchers suspected it might still cause less obvious problems.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 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

Pollen collected by bumblebees contained between two and seven times more heavy metals than pollen collected by honeybees across most of the metals examined.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

All around her, dozens of honeybees whirled like tiny moons in orbit, anchored only by her gravity.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby