Phrase guide

worker bee

noun · 2 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A sterile bee whose specialty is to support the hive, especially by collecting pollen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

sterile bee specialized to collect food and maintain the hive

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: worker

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: zogë — sterile bee
  • Asturian: obrera — sterile bee
  • Bulgarian: пчела-работничка (pčela-rabotnička) — sterile bee
  • Catalan: abella obrera — sterile bee
  • Chinese Mandarin: 工蜂 (gōngfēng) — sterile bee
  • Danish: arbejdsbi — sterile bee
  • Danish: arbejderbi — sterile bee
  • Dutch: werkster — sterile bee
  • Dutch: werkbij — sterile bee
  • Esperanto: laborabelo — sterile bee
  • Finnish: työläinen — sterile bee
  • Finnish: työmehiläinen — sterile bee
  • French: abeille ouvrière — sterile bee
  • French: ouvrière — sterile bee
  • German: Arbeiterin — sterile bee
  • Irish: beach oibre — sterile bee
  • Italian: ape operaia — sterile bee
  • Japanese: 働きバチ (hatarakibachi) — sterile bee
  • Japanese: 働き蜂 (hatarakibachi) — sterile bee
  • Māori: pī kaimahi — sterile bee
  • Polish: robotnica — sterile bee
  • Portuguese: abelha-operária — sterile bee
  • Romanian: albină lucrătoare — sterile bee
  • Russian: рабо́чая пчела́ (rabóčaja pčelá) — sterile bee
  • Serbo-Croatian: ра́дилица — sterile bee
  • Serbo-Croatian: rádilica — sterile bee
  • Spanish: abeja obrera — sterile bee
  • Turkish: işçi arı — sterile bee