honey

A2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈhʌni/ See IPA manual

Freq #504

Meanings

1

noun
A sweet, thick, golden food made by bees from flower nectar.

I like to spread honey on my toast in the morning.
2

noun
A loving name you call someone you care about.

Honey, would you take out the trash?

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a loving name you call... darling

More sweetheart sweetie

Word family

Forms honeys

Derived forms behoneycomb-honeyenhoneyhonhoney-buzzardhoney-coloredhoney-dipperhoney-lippedhoney-lotushoney-monthhoney-mouthedhoney-plant

Related forms hydromelmelilotmelliferousmellifluousmelliphagousmolasses oenomel

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

honey cake
A cake flavored or sweetened with honey, often also containing spices.

Noun + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

Etymology

From Middle English hony, honi, from Old English huniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hunag, from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare Saterland Frisian Hunich, West Frisian hunich, German Low German Honnig, German Honig), from earlier *hunangą (compare North Frisian honning, hönning, West Frisian huning, Dutch honing, Swedish honung), from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂onk-o-s, from *kn̥h₂ónks. Cognate with Middle Welsh canecon (“gold”), Latin canicae pl (“bran”), Tocharian B kronkśe (“bee”), Albanian qengjë (“beehive”), Ancient Greek κνῆκος (knêkos, “safflower”), Northern Kurdish şan (“beehive”), Norther…

hony Middle English huniġ Old English *hunag Proto-West Germanic *hunagą Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# honey

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhʌni/
**Frequency rank:** 504

## Meanings
1. A sweet, thick, golden food made by bees from flower nectar.
2. A loving name you call someone you care about.

## Examples
- I like to spread honey on my toast in the morning.
- Honey, would you take out the trash?

## Synonyms
- sweetheart
- sweetie

## Derived Forms
- behoney
- comb-honey
- enhoney
- hon
- honey-buzzard
- honey-colored
- honey-dipper
- honey-lipped
- honey-lotus
- honey-month
- honey-mouthed
- honey-plant

## Related Forms
- hydromel
- melilot
- melliferous
- mellifluous
- melliphagous
- molasses
- oenomel

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hony
- Root: huniġ
- Root: *hunag
- Root: *hunagą

## Etymology
From Middle English hony, honi, from Old English huniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hunag, from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare Saterland Frisian Hunich, West Frisian hunich, German Low German Honnig, German Honig), from earlier *hunangą (compare North Frisian honning, hönning, West Frisian huning, Dutch honing, Swedish honung), from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂onk-o-s, from *kn̥h₂ónks. Cognate with Middle Welsh canecon (“gold”), Latin canicae pl (“bran”), Tocharian B kronkśe (“bee”), Albanian qengjë (“beehive”), Ancient Greek κνῆκος (knêkos, “safflower”), Northern Kurdish şan (“beehive”), Norther…

## AI Etymology
Honey comes from Middle English hony, honi, from Old English huniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hunag, from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare Saterland Frisian Hunich, West Frisian hunich, German Low German Honnig, German Honig), from earlier *hunangą (compare North Frisian honning, hönning, West Frisian huning, Dutch honing, Swedish honung), from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂onk-o-s, from *kn̥h₂ónks. In current use, the main senses are “A sweet, thick, golden food made by bees from flower nectar” and “A loving name you call someone you care about”.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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