Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

the bee's knees

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.59 in modern English

Syllables
the bee's knees
IPA
21
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Something or someone excellent, surpassingly wonderful, or cool.

Colloquial; Dated

noun

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bee, -'s, knee. Corbiculae.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Attested since 1922, of unclear origin. There are several suggested origins, but it most likely arose in imitation of the numerous animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s such as the cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, cat's meow, gnat's elbow, monkey's eyebrows etc. A popular folk etymology has the phrase referring to the world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Another suggestion is that the phrase is a corruption of business. The singular bee's knee is attested from the late 18th century meaning something small or insignificant in the phrase big as a bee's knee. Also as weak as a bee's knee is attested in Ireland (1870). It is possible that the bee's knees is a deliberate inversion of this meaning but is not attested. Another possibility is that this is a reference to the (visible) blobs of pollen in bees' corbiculae.

Usage

Synonyms

cat's meow cat's pyjamas dog's bollocks the bomb all that and a bag of chips antelope's cantaloupes ant's pants bee's knees bollocks cat's ass cat's pajamas cat's whiskers

Questions

What does the bee's knees mean?
Something or someone excellent, surpassingly wonderful, or cool.
Where does the bee's knees come from?
Attested since 1922, of unclear origin. There are several suggested origins, but it most likely arose in imitation of the numerous animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s such as the cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, cat's meow, gnat's elbow, monkey's eyebrows etc. A popular folk etymology has the phrase referring to the world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Another suggestion is that the phrase is a corruption of business. The singular bee's knee is attested from the late 18th century meaning something small or insignificant in the phrase big as a bee's knee. Also as weak as a bee's knee is attested in Ireland (1870). It is possible that the bee's knees is a deliberate inversion of this meaning but is not attested. Another possibility is that this is a reference to the (visible) blobs of pollen in bees' corbiculae.

How to pronounce the bee's knees

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