Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Italian bee

Italian bee

5.4
A yellowish honeybee that is gentle and makes a lot of honey
  • noun
  • /ɪˈtæljən bi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : abeja italiana
  • The beekeeper prefers to use Italian bees because they are gentler than other varieties.

Examples

  • Although she was only a common American mixture of the German bee, she compared most favorably with the more regal strain of Italian bees he had reared in his village.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • But we work with Italian bees.

    Blog text (14)

  • Farmers in the region often choose Italian bees for their productivity and calm behavior.

  • After years of research, she decided to keep Italian bees due to their effectiveness in pollination.

Synonyms

honeybee
vsItalian bee
15 1.2

A flying insect that lives in large groups and makes honey

is a yellowish variety known for gentleness and higher productivity than the general species

Surface Forms

Italian bee singular
Italian bees plural

Morphology

Italian + bee

The noun phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: a B1 learner who knows 'Italian' and 'bee' will readily infer it refers to a bee associated with Italy (i.e., an Italian variety or breed). This compositional, literal relation is cross-linguistically common and requires no idiomatic knowledge, so the MWE is transparent.

Etymology

The noun Italian bee comes from bees first found and bred in Italy, and it literally means an Italian bee. Because these bees are easy to handle and make a lot of honey, the name now refers to that 'gentle' and 'productive' kind.