Encyclopedia · A–Z

Bee A–Z: the beekeeping glossary

85 bee, honey and beekeeping words, explained in plain language, with the full guides linked below.

Updated 2026-11-10 · Fact-checked against the sources listed at the end.

Glossary

Abscond: When an entire colony leaves its hive, often because of pests, disturbance or lack of food. Different from swarming, which is reproduction.
Africanized honey bee: A hybrid of African and European honey bees that defends its nest much more aggressively. Arrived in the U.S. in 1990.
American foulbrood (AFB): A highly contagious bacterial disease of bee larvae caused by Paenibacillus larvae. Reportable in many states.
Amitraz: A widely used miticide for varroa. Resistance in mite populations is now widespread.
Apiary: A place where beehives are kept; a bee yard.
Apiculture: The science and practice of beekeeping.
Apis mellifera: The western honey bee, the main species kept for honey and pollination.

Bee bread: Pollen packed into comb cells with nectar, which slightly ferments; the colony's protein food.
Bee space: A gap of about 1/4–3/8 inch that bees leave open rather than filling with comb or propolis; the basis of the Langstroth hive.
Beeswax: Wax made by young worker bees from glands on the abdomen, used to build comb.
Brood: Developing bees: eggs, larvae and pupae.
Brood pattern: How evenly brood fills a frame. A solid pattern suggests a healthy, well-mated queen.
Burr comb: Extra bits of comb built between frames or boxes.
Buzz pollination: Vibrating flowers to shake out pollen, done by bumble bees and many native bees, but not honey bees.

Capped brood: Pupae in cells sealed with a porous wax cap.
Capped honey: Ripe honey sealed under an airtight wax cap.
Caste: A type of bee in a colony: queen, worker or drone.
Chalkbrood: A fungal brood disease that turns larvae into chalky "mummies."
Cluster: The tight ball of bees that keeps the colony warm in winter; also a swarm hanging on a branch.
Colony: The whole family of bees living together: queen, workers, drones and brood.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): A syndrome named in 2006–07 in which most adult bees vanish from a hive, leaving the queen, brood and food.
Comb: Sheets of six-sided wax cells used to raise brood and store food.
Corbicula: The pollen basket on a worker's hind leg.
Creamed honey: Honey crystallized in a controlled way to make it smooth and spreadable.

Deformed wing virus (DWV): A virus spread by varroa mites that causes crumpled wings and colony decline.
Drawn comb: Foundation that bees have built out into full cells.
Drone: A male honey bee. No stinger; his role is mating.
Drone congregation area: A place in the air where drones gather and queens fly to mate.

Entrance reducer: A strip that narrows the hive entrance to help bees defend it.
European foulbrood (EFB): A bacterial brood disease caused by Melissococcus plutonius.
Extractor: A machine that spins frames to fling honey out of the comb.

Forager: An older worker that collects nectar, pollen, water and resin.
Foundation: A sheet of wax or plastic stamped with cell shapes that bees build comb on.
Frame: The rectangular holder for comb in a movable-frame hive.

Haplodiploidy: The sex system of bees: fertilized eggs become females, unfertilized eggs become males.
Hive: The structure a colony lives in; often used for the colony itself.
Hive tool: A flat metal tool for prying apart boxes and frames.
Honey flow (nectar flow): A period when plenty of nectar is available and colonies store honey fast.
Honey stomach: A worker's crop, used to carry nectar.
Honey super: A box added on top of the hive for bees to store surplus honey.
Honeydew: Sugary liquid excreted by sap-sucking insects, which bees can turn into honeydew honey.
Hypopharyngeal glands: Glands in a nurse bee's head that produce brood food and royal jelly.

Inner cover: A flat board under the outer lid of a Langstroth hive.
Integrated pest management (IPM): Combining monitoring, prevention and treatment only when needed to control pests like varroa.

Langstroth hive: The standard movable-frame hive patented by Lorenzo Langstroth in 1852.
Larva: The grub stage of a bee, between egg and pupa.

Mead: An alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey and water.
Melissopalynology: The study of pollen in honey to identify its flower and region.

Nasonov pheromone: An orientation scent workers release from a gland near the tip of the abdomen to guide bees home.
Nectar: The sugary liquid flowers make to attract pollinators; the raw material of honey.
Nosema: A microsporidian gut parasite of honey bees.
Nuc (nucleus colony): A small starter colony on a few frames with a laying queen.
Nurse bee: A young worker that feeds larvae.

Ocelli: The three small simple eyes on top of a bee's head.
Oxalic acid: An organic acid used as a varroa treatment, most effective when little or no brood is present.

Package: About 3 pounds of bees and a caged queen, sold to start a colony.
Pheromone: A chemical signal bees use to communicate, such as queen mandibular pheromone or alarm pheromone.
Pollen: The protein-rich dust from flowers that bees eat and carry between plants.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen from flower to flower that lets plants make fruit and seed.
Proboscis: A bee's straw-like tongue.
Propolis: "Bee glue" made from plant resins, used to seal and protect the nest.
Pupa: The stage when a larva transforms into an adult inside a capped cell.

Queen: The egg-laying female and mother of the colony.
Queen cell: A large, peanut-shaped cell where a new queen is raised.
Queen excluder: A grid that lets workers through but keeps the larger queen out of honey supers.

Raw honey: Honey that is strained but not heated much; not legally defined in the U.S.
Refractometer: A tool that measures the water content of honey.
Robbing: Bees stealing honey from another colony, common in a nectar dearth.
Royal jelly: A rich food from nurse bees' glands, fed to young larvae and to queens for life.

Skep: A traditional dome-shaped hive of woven straw.
Small hive beetle: Aethina tumida, a pest that ruins comb and honey; a major problem in warm climates like Florida.
Smoker: A device that puffs cool smoke to calm bees during inspections.
Solitary bee: A bee in which each female builds and provisions her own nest; about 90% of bee species.
Spermatheca: The organ where a queen stores sperm for life.
Split: Dividing one colony into two.
Supersedure: When a colony replaces its queen without swarming.
Swarm: A group of bees that leaves with a queen to start a new colony.

Top bar hive: A horizontal hive where bees build comb hanging from wooden bars.

Varroa destructor: The parasitic mite that is the biggest threat to honey bees worldwide.
VSH (varroa sensitive hygiene): A trait in which workers find and remove mite-infested pupae.

Waggle dance: The dance foragers use to share the direction and distance of food.
Wax moth: A moth whose larvae tunnel through and destroy stored comb.
Winter bees: Long-lived workers raised in fall that carry the colony through winter.
Worker: A sterile female bee that does all the colony's work except laying eggs.