From Middle English hony, from Old English huniġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hunag, from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare Western Frisian hunich, German Honig), from earlier *hunangą (compare Swedish honung), from Proto-Indo-European , from *kn̥h₂ónks.

Cognate with wlm canecon, Latin canicae, Tocharian B kronkśe, Albanian qengjë, Ancient Greek κνῆκος, kmr şan, Northern Luri گونج, Finnish hunaja.

• IPA: /ˈhʌni/

honey (uncountable)

1. (uncountable) A viscous, gold-coloured sweet fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.

   The honey in the pot should last for years.

2. (countable) A variety of this substance.
3. (rare) Nectar.
4. (figuratively) Something sweet or desirable.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iii], lines 91–93:

     O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     the honey of his language

5. A term of affection.

   Honey, would you take out the trash?

   Honey, I'm home.

6. (countable, informal) A woman, especially an attractive one.

   Man, there are some fine honeys here tonight!

   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 130 ↗:

     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 classes too. I wasn't totally ass-out stupid.

7. A spectrum of pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like that of most types of (the sweet substance) honey.

    

• (sweet fluid from bees) mel
• (term of affection) darling, sweetie, see also Thesaurus:sweetheart

• French: miel
• German: Honig
• Italian: miele
• Portuguese: mel
• Russian: мёд
• Spanish: miel

• Spanish: dulzura

• Italian: carino, tesoro, gioia
• Portuguese: querida, querido
• Russian: ду́шенька
• Spanish: cariño, tesoro, cari, cielo

• Portuguese: mel
• Russian: медо́вый
• Spanish: miel

honey (comparative honeyer, superlative honeyest)

1. Involving or resembling honey.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     So work the honey-bees, / Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

2. Of a pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like most types of honey.
3. Honey-sweet.

• Russian: медо́вый
• Spanish: meloso, melifluo, melífero

honey (honeys, present participle honeying; simple past and past participle honeyed)

1. (transitive) To sweeten; to make agreeable.
2. (transitive) To add honey to.
3. (intransitive) To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:

     Honeying and making love.

4. (intransitive) To be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn.
   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, page 6 ↗:

     [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.

• honey badger
• honey bear
• honey bucket
• honey bun
• honey bunch
• honey decoction
• honey dipper
• honey drizzler
• honey fungus
• honey guide
• honey locust
• honey mesquite
• honey mouse
• honey myrtle
• honey parrot
• honey plant
• honey-buzzard
• honeycomb moth
• honeydew melon
• land of milk and honey
• western honey mesquite

1. Surname.