Standard Lemma guide

beeswax

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbiːzwæks/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːzwæks

1

noun

Meaning 1

A wax secreted by bees from which they make honeycomb; or, the processed form of this wax used in the manufacture of various goods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • The candle was made entirely of natural beeswax.
  • She polished the furniture with beeswax to give it a shine.
  • The beekeeper collected honey and beeswax from the hives.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Business.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, humorous, informal, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • mind your own beeswax
  • none of your beeswax

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To polish with beeswax.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a yellow to brown wax secreted by honeybees to build honeycombs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal product, wax

Narrower terms: Ghedda wax

5

verb

Meaning 5

cover with beeswax

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Chris beeswaxed the kitchen table

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wax

History

Etymology

From bee + -s- + wax.

Across languages

Translations

101 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dupaningan Agta: lilen — wax secreted by bees
  • Arabic: شَمْع الْعَسَل (šamʕ al-ʕasal) — wax secreted by bees
  • Aramaic: ܫܲܥܘܼܬ݂ܵܐ (šaˁūṯā) — wax secreted by bees
  • Armenian: մեղրամոմ (meġramom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Assamese: মৌসিটা (mouxita) — wax secreted by bees
  • Assamese: মম (mom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Azerbaijani: mum — wax secreted by bees
  • Azerbaijani: arı mumu — wax secreted by bees
  • Bashkir: балауыҙ (balawıź) — wax secreted by bees
  • Belarusian: пчалі́ны воск (pčalíny vosk) — wax secreted by bees
  • Bengali: মোম (mōm) — wax secreted by bees
  • Bhojpuri: मोम (mōm) — wax secreted by bees
  • Bulgarian: пче́лен во́сък (pčélen vósǎk) — wax secreted by bees
  • Catalan: cera d'abella — wax secreted by bees
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蜜蠟 /蜜蜡 (mìlà) — wax secreted by bees
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蜂蠟 /蜂蜡 (fēnglà) — wax secreted by bees
  • Crimean Tatar: balavuz — wax secreted by bees
  • Czech: včelí vosk — wax secreted by bees
  • Danish: bivoks — wax secreted by bees
  • Dutch: bijenwas — wax secreted by bees
  • Esperanto: abelvakso — wax secreted by bees
  • Estonian: mesilasvaha — wax secreted by bees
  • Finnish: mehiläisvaha — wax secreted by bees
  • French: cire d'abeille — wax secreted by bees
  • Galician: cera de abella — wax secreted by bees
  • Galician: borra de abella — wax secreted by bees
  • Galician: buio — wax secreted by bees
  • Galician: morria — wax secreted by bees
  • German: Bienenwachs — wax secreted by bees
  • Greek: μελισσόκηρος (melissókiros) — wax secreted by bees
  • Greek: μελισσοκέρι (melissokéri) — wax secreted by bees
  • Ancient Greek: κηρός (kērós) — wax secreted by bees
  • Ancient Greek: κηρίον (kēríon) — wax secreted by bees
  • Hawaiian: kūkaenalo — wax secreted by bees
  • Hebrew: דונג (dónag) — wax secreted by bees
  • Hindi: मोम (mom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Hindi: मधुमोम (madhumom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Hungarian: méhviasz — wax secreted by bees
  • Icelandic: bývax — wax secreted by bees
  • Indonesian: lilin lebah — wax secreted by bees
  • Indonesian: malam — wax secreted by bees
  • Ingrian: vaha — wax secreted by bees
  • Italian: cera d'api — wax secreted by bees
  • Japanese: 蜜蝋 (mitsurō) — wax secreted by bees
  • Japanese: 封蝋 (fūrō) — wax secreted by bees
  • Kazakh: ара балауызы (ara balauyzy) — wax secreted by bees
  • Khmer: ក្រមួនឃ្មុំ (krɑɑmuən khmum) — wax secreted by bees
  • Korean: 밀랍 (millap) — wax secreted by bees
  • Korean: 봉랍 (bongnap) — wax secreted by bees
  • Northern Kurdish: şima — wax secreted by bees
  • Kyrgyz: мом (mom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Latin: cēra — wax secreted by bees
  • Latvian: vasks — wax secreted by bees
  • Lun Bawang: ulih — wax secreted by bees
  • Macedonian: пчелин восок (pčelin vosok) — wax secreted by bees
  • Malay: lilin lebah — wax secreted by bees
  • Malayalam: മെഴുക് (meḻukŭ) — wax secreted by bees
  • Māori: ware — wax secreted by bees
  • Middle English: wax — wax secreted by bees
  • Khiamniungan Naga: yàp — wax secreted by bees
  • Classical Nahuatl: xīcohcuitlatl — wax secreted by bees
  • Navajo: tsísʼná bijeeh — wax secreted by bees
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bivoks — wax secreted by bees
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: bivoks — wax secreted by bees
  • Persian: موم (mum) — wax secreted by bees
  • Polish: wosk pszczeli — wax secreted by bees
  • Portuguese: cera de abelha — wax secreted by bees
  • Punjabi: ਮੋਮ (mom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Romanian: ceară de albine — wax secreted by bees
  • Russian: пчели́ный воск (pčelínyj vosk) — wax secreted by bees
  • Scottish Gaelic: cèir — wax secreted by bees
  • Scottish Gaelic: cèir-sheillean — wax secreted by bees
  • Serbo-Croatian: восковаринa — wax secreted by bees
  • Serbo-Croatian: пчелињи восак — wax secreted by bees
  • Serbo-Croatian: voskovarina — wax secreted by bees
  • Serbo-Croatian: pčelinji vosak — wax secreted by bees
  • Sicilian: cira — wax secreted by bees
  • Sicilian: cira dî lapi — wax secreted by bees
  • Slovak: včelí vosk — wax secreted by bees
  • Slovene: čebelji vosek — wax secreted by bees
  • Spanish: cera de abeja — wax secreted by bees
  • Sudovian: vaskan — wax secreted by bees
  • Swedish: bivax — wax secreted by bees
  • Tagalog: pagkit — wax secreted by bees
  • Tajik: мум (mum) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tamil: மெழுகு (meḻuku) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tamil: தேன்மெழுகு (tēṉmeḻuku) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tatar: балавыз (balawız) — wax secreted by bees
  • Thai: ขี้ผึ้ง (kîi-pʉ̂ng) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tibetan: སྤྲ་ཚིལ (spra tshil) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tibetan: བུང་བའི་སྤྲ་ཚིལ (bung ba'i spra tshil) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tibetan: སྦྲང་བུའི་སྤྲ་ཚིལ (sbrang bu'i spra tshil) — wax secreted by bees
  • Tooro: ebisasara class 8 — wax secreted by bees
  • Turkish: bal mumu — wax secreted by bees
  • Ottoman Turkish: بالمومی (balmumu) — wax secreted by bees
  • Ukrainian: бджоли́ний ві́ск (bdžolýnyj vísk) — wax secreted by bees
  • Urdu: موم (mom) — wax secreted by bees
  • Venetan: zèra — wax secreted by bees
  • Vietnamese: sáp ong — wax secreted by bees
  • Volapük: bienaväk — wax secreted by bees
  • Welsh: cŵyr gwenyn — wax secreted by bees