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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

honey.

A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhʌni/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhʊni/Northern-England/ˈhʌne/Scotland
  1. A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.

    uncountable · usually
    The honey in the pot should last for years.
  2. A variety of this substance.

    countable · usually
  3. Nectar.

    rare · uncountable · usually
  4. Something sweet or desirable.

    figuratively · uncountable · usually
  5. A term of affection.

    uncountable · usually
    Honey, would you take out the trash?
    Honey, I'm home.
  6. A woman, especially an attractive one.

    countable · informal · usually
    Man, there are some fine honeys here tonight!
  7. A spectrum of pale yellow to brownish-yellow color, like that of most types of (the sweet substance) honey.

    uncountable · usually
  8. Precum; pre-ejaculate.

    uncountable · usually · vulgar
Where this word comes from

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, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk honning, Swedish honung, Faroese hunangur, Icelandic hunang), 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”), Northern Luri گونج (gonj, “bee”), Finnish hunaja.

adj/ˈhʌni/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhʊni/Northern-England/ˈhʌne/Scotland
  1. Involving or resembling honey.

  2. Of a pale yellow to brownish-yellow color, like most types of honey.

  3. Honey-sweet.

Where this word comes from

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, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk honning, Swedish honung, Faroese hunangur, Icelandic hunang), 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”), Northern Luri گونج (gonj, “bee”), Finnish hunaja.

verb/ˈhʌni/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhʊni/Northern-England/ˈhʌne/Scotland
  1. To sweeten; to make agreeable.

    transitive
  2. To add honey to.

    transitive
  3. To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments.

    intransitive
  4. To be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk honning, Swedish honung, Faroese hunangur, Icelandic hunang), 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”), Northern Luri گونج (gonj, “bee”), Finnish hunaja.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.