apiary

American  

[ey-pee-er-ee] / ˈeɪ piˌɛr i /

noun

• apiaries
  plural

1. a place in which a colony or colonies of bees are kept, as a stand or shed for beehives or a bee house containing a number of beehives.

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apiary British  

/ ˈeɪpɪərɪ /

noun

1. a place where bees are kept, usually in beehives

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• apiaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of apiary

1645–55; < Latin apiārium beehive, equivalent to api ( s ) bee + -ārium -ary

Explanation

An apiary is a structure for keeping bees. If you love to eat fresh honey and don't have access to a farmer's market, you might consider building an apiary in your backyard. Apiaries have nothing to do with apes! Rather, the word derives from apis, the Latin word for "bee." Humans have raised bees for their honey for thousands of years; the oldest known apiaries were built by ancient Egyptians. The word itself didn't appear until the 1650s, around the time that apiarists, or beekeepers, started constructing apiaries resembling the ones in current use. Today, there are apiaries of various sizes on every continent and in every U.S. state.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apiary apiaries

Brandon Teller, one of the county’s most prominent beekeepers, saw a Watch Duty fire notification on May 19 and headed straight to his apiary.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

Gray said she hopes the findings will be useful to beekeepers while planning their apiary management strategies, as well as be a springboard for future studies.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2024

The farm also has an apiary operation that produces incredible honey, two rescue steers, and a smattering of laying hens.

From Salon ● May 2, 2024

"In every apiary we have there will always be one white box - just one white. Those are ones Willie Smith made himself after the First World War," Mr Hood said.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2023

By following this plan you can soon have quite an apiary and be on your way to enjoy the profits as well as the pleasures of bee hunting.

From Bee Hunting A Book of Valuable Information for Bee Hunters - Tell How to Line Bees to Trees, Etc. by John Ready Lockard

Finally, they experimentally infected bees from two colonies in central Pennsylvania with strains of the virus found in the Arnot Forest and the managed apiaries.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2023

The plan was equally straightforward: Community-owned farms would feed everyone and fund additional industries, including apiaries, hatcheries, canneries, smithies, brickyards and even a film studio.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023

To provide the honey for his range of meads Mr Cooper is also a professional beekeeper, who looks after more than 500 hives at 50 different locations or apiaries across Wales.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2021

The nonprofit works to help apiaries troubleshoot such problems, while also collecting data that can lead to solutions.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 20, 2019

That we find it so universally planted in our church-yards, was doubtless some symbol of immortality, the tree being so lasting, and always green: Our bee-masters banish it from about their apiaries.

From Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) Or A Discourse of Forest Trees by John Nisbet