What Does The “Bee” In Spelling Bee Mean Exactly?
Every year, spellers from across the country and around the globe gather to take part in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. If you’ve ever watched this event, maybe you’ve wondered: where does the bee in “spelling bee” come from?Bee is derived from the Old English bēn meaning “a prayer, a favor.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, …