/ˈhʌni/
OriginFrom 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, Swedish honung), 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.
- uncountable, usuallyA sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.
“The honey in the pot should last for years.”
- countable, usuallyA variety of this substance.
“The physical properties of the different honeys, color, granulation, aroma, flavor, etc., are indicated in the table only in a very general way.”
“If two of the California honeys, western hyssop and fleabane, having a positive polarization at 200 C. are disregarded, then the remaining...”
“Eucalyptus honeys could be characterized based on seven volatile compounds, whereas lavender honeys had only five...”
- rare, uncountable, usuallyNectar.
- figuratively, uncountable, usuallySomething sweet or desirable.
“O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”
“the honey of his language”
- uncountable, usuallyA term of affection.
“Honey, would you take out the trash?”
“Honey, I'm home.”
“"So far, so good... are you doing okay?" "Flying... is awesome!" "Focus, honey."”
- countable, informal, usuallyA woman, especially an attractive one.
“Man, there are some fine honeys here tonight!”
“It's hard on a fella, when he don't know his way around
If I don't find me a honey to help me spend my money
I'm gonna have to blow this town.”
“College was wild. I was like a happy little white kid playing in a sandbox full of toys. Honeys, basketball, music, I indulged in all of that shit to the max. And oh yeah. I went to a couple of classe”
- uncountable, usuallyA spectrum of pale yellow to brownish-yellow color, like that of most types of (the sweet substance) honey.
- Involving or resembling honey.
“So work the honey-bees, / Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom.”
“Dim as the forming of / Dew in the warming of / Moonlight, they light on the petals; / All is revealed to them; / All!—from the sunniest / Tips to the honiest / Heart, whence they yield to them / Spic”
““I say,” it said, “don’t gran’ma make the hunkiest frosted cookies, though?” / “My, yes, an’ gran’pa’s bees the honiest honey?” flashed back from Station Mary.”
- Of a pale yellow to brownish-yellow color, like most types of honey.
“Then I looked close at the scalp he stroked, which was of the silkiest blonde. For a moment I was sure it come from Olga’s dear head, and reckoned also he had little Gus’s fine skull-cover someplace a”
- Honey-sweet.
“But he answered the question with the honiest—Bohemian honey—of smiles: […]”
“Mais il se ravisa et revint dire, de son air bonhomme : « Écoutez donc Lantier, j’ai besoin d’un homard…[…] »”
“No man has any business to say that his boy is honier than he was,—or is.”
- transitiveTo sweeten; to make agreeable.
- transitiveTo add honey to.
- intransitiveTo be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments.
“Honeying and making love.”
- intransitiveTo be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn.
“[O]ne / Discuss'd his tutor, rough to common men / But honeying at the whisper of a lord; / And one the Master, as a rogue in grain / Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.”
Formshoneys(plural) · honies(archaic, plural) · hony(alternative, obsolete) · hunney(alternative, pronunciation-spelling) · hunny(alternative, pronunciation-spelling) · honeyer(comparative) · honier(comparative) · honeyest(superlative) · honiest(superlative) · honeys(present, singular, third-person) · honeying(participle, present) · honeyed(participle, past) · honeyed(past) · Honeys(plural)