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Added 9 October 2026

hive

/haɪv/ noun

Latin root: cūpa Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hive at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A structure, whether artificial or natural, for housing a swarm of honeybees.
The bees of one hive; a swarm of bees.
A place swarming with busy occupants; a crowd.

verb

To collect (bees) into a hive.
to hive a swarm of bees
To store (something other than bees) in, or as if in, a hive.
To form a hive-like entity.

noun

An itchy, red, swollen area of the skin; singular or attributive form of hives.

Origin

From Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi, from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). See also Dutch huif (“beehive”), Danish dialect huv (“ship’s hull”); also Latin cūpa (“tub, vat”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see this for more.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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