Unicode has one bee, named Honeybee and filed under bumblebee too. This bee emoji copy and paste page puts honey, flowers, 12 bee characters that are not emoji, honeycomb borders, six words for bee and 18 combos round it.
Read the full guide
Hexagon finds the honeycomb
Hexagon finds two honeycomb cells and two borders. Wasp finds three characters, and buzz finds a Chinese character and a fading bzzz. Search matches parts of words, so bee also finds the beetles.
Honey is shared by four
Unicode lists Honeybee with the bugs, between Ant and Beetle, and no other emoji has bee or bumblebee among its CLDR words. Honey is shared by four: the bee, Honey pot, Bear and Badger. Spring is shared by three. Hyacinth, from Emoji 15.0, is the newest here, so check it where it is going.
Tips
Italian for bee is ape, from Latin apis, which is also where apiary comes from.
The names Melissa and Deborah come from the Greek and Hebrew words for bee. Both words are here to copy.
A spelling bee has no insect in it. Wikipedia says that bee probably comes from dialect for neighbours' help.
Questions and answers
Is there a bumblebee emoji?
Not a separate one. Unicode has one bee, named Honeybee, and CLDR files it under bumblebee as well, so either word finds it. Wikipedia counts over 250 species of bumblebee and over 20,000 species of bee. They share one emoji.
Is there a wasp or hornet emoji?
No. No emoji is named wasp or hornet, CLDR files nothing under either word, and no Unicode character has either in its name. The nearest are θ, which Unihan defines as bee, wasp and hornet, and a wasp hieroglyph added in Unicode 16.0.
Is there a honeycomb or beehive emoji?
No. CLDR files no emoji under hive, beehive, honeycomb or hexagon. For the comb, ⬑ and ⬒ are plain text hexagons that take the colour of your words. For the hive, one Unicode character is named beehive: a sign from the Phaistos Disc.
π¦‘BadgerU+1F9A1. The fourth emoji under honey, for the honey badger. Emoji 11.0.
π»BearU+1F43B. One of four emoji under honey. CLDR files the bear under honey and the honey pot under bear. Emoji 0.6.
πΈCherry blossomU+1F338. CLDR files three emoji under spring: this one, Hyacinth and the bee. Emoji 0.6.
π―Honey potU+1F36F. The only other emoji with honey in its name. CLDR files it under honey, honeypot, jar and sweet, and under bear. Emoji 0.6.
πHoneybeeU+1F41D. The only emoji CLDR files under bee, and under bumblebee too. Unicode names it Honeybee and lists it with the bugs, between Ant and Beetle. Emoji 0.6.
πͺ»HyacinthU+1FABB. The third emoji under spring, and the only one under lavender. Emoji 15.0.
Show all 56 bees (50 more)
Flowers and neighbours 8
πAntU+1F41C. Wikipedia calls wasps and ants the close relatives of bees. There is no wasp emoji, so the ant stands in for the family. Emoji 0.6.
πͺ²BeetleU+1FAB2. The entry after Honeybee in Unicode's list. It answers a search for bee here because the search matches parts of words. Emoji 13.0.
πΌBlossomU+1F33C. CLDR files it under buttercup and dandelion as well as blossom. Emoji 0.6.
πCrownU+1F451. CLDR files two emoji under queen, this and Princess. Neither is a bee, so Queen bee further down borrows the crown. Emoji 0.6.
πLady beetleU+1F41E. Filed under ladybird, ladybug and garden. Its name holds the letters b, e, e, so a search for bee finds it. Emoji 0.6.
π»SunflowerU+1F33B. Filed under sun and outdoors, which is where the bee works. Emoji 0.6.
π·TulipU+1F337. Filed under blossom and growth. Emoji 0.6.
πWomanβs hatU+1F452. The nearest emoji to a bonnet, a word CLDR files nothing under. It is filed under garden. Emoji 0.6.
Bee characters, not emoji 12
π€Bee (hieroglyph)U+131A4 Egyptian hieroglyph L002. Unicode describes it as a bee. Wiktionary reads it as the Egyptian word for bee and for honey, and Wikipedia has it standing for Lower Egypt.
θBee in Chinese and JapaneseU+8702 CJK unified ideograph-8702. Unihan defines it as bee, wasp and hornet: fΔng in Mandarin, hachi in Japanese. Wiktionary adds swarm to its Chinese senses.
π±Bee sign of the Phaistos DiscU+101F1 Phaistos disc sign bee. Sign 34 of the 45 stamped on a clay disc found at Phaistos in Crete. Wikipedia counts it three times on the disc. In Unicode since 5.1.
π§Beehive sign of the Phaistos DiscU+101E7 Phaistos disc sign beehive. Sign 24 of the same disc, stamped six times. The only character in Unicode with beehive in its name.
θ Bees, hornets, waspsU+882D CJK unified ideograph-882D. Unihan lists it as a variant of the character for bee, with the same three insects in another order.
ε‘The buzzU+55E1 CJK unified ideograph-55E1. Unihan defines it as the sound of flying bees and airplanes. Read wΔng in Mandarin.
θHoneyU+871C CJK unified ideograph-871C. Honey, sweet and nectar in Unihan: mΓ¬ in Mandarin, mitsu in Japanese. Dictionaries index it under the insect radical, like the bee.
⬑Honeycomb cellU+2B21 White hexagon. Wikipedia describes honeycomb as hexagonal cells built from beeswax. CLDR files no emoji under hexagon, hive or honeycomb, so this is the cell.
β¬’Honeycomb cell, filledU+2B22 Black hexagon. The same hexagon, full. It takes the colour of your text.
π·°Locust drawn as a wingless bee (hieroglyph)U+13DF0 Egyptian hieroglyph-13DF0. Unicode's own description: a locust, depicted as a bee without wings. Also Unicode 16.0.
π₯Sedge and bee (hieroglyph)U+131A5 Egyptian hieroglyph L002A. The title that goes with a pharaoh's throne name, by Wikipedia: literally he of sedge and bee, usually put as King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
π·―Wasp (hieroglyph)U+13DEF Egyptian hieroglyph-13DEF. Unicode describes it as a wasp, and no Unicode character is named wasp or hornet. It arrived with Unicode 16.0, so some fonts show a box.
Text bees and honeycomb 6
. Β· Λ Β· . Β· Λ πFlight path
⬑⬑⬑ π ⬑⬑⬑Divider with a bee
⬑⬒⬑⬒⬑Honeycomb row
π βββββββ πΌStraight to the flower
-(|||)8Striped bee, keyboard characters only
bzzzαΆ»αΆ»αΆ»Buzz, fading out
Six words for bee, each with a story 6
ΞΌΞλιΟΟΞ±Bee in Greek, and the name Melissa
ΧΧΧΧ¨ΧBee in Hebrew (dvorΓ‘), and the name Deborah
θθHoneybee in Chinese (mΓ¬fΔng) and Japanese: honey plus bee
apeBee in Italian, and yes, it is spelled ape
apisBee in Latin, the root of apiary
arbetsmyraBusy bee in Swedish: a work ant
Bee combos 18
ππΈπͺ»All of springHoneybee, then cherry blossom, then hyacinth. Every emoji CLDR files under spring. There is no fourth.
π»π―Bear finds honeyBear, then honey pot. Each is filed under the other: bear is a search word for the pot, and honey for the bear.
ππBee in your bonnetWomanβs hat, then honeybee. An obsession, by Wiktionary. The hat is as close as emoji get to a bonnet.
ππ¦΅The bee's kneesHoneybee, then leg. Something excellent. Wiktionary has it from 1922, one of the nonsense animal phrases of the 1920s. CLDR files Leg under knee.
ππBeelineHoneybee, then straight ruler. Wiktionary traces the word to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course.
ππΌBusy beeHoneybee, then briefcase. Wiktionary defines a busy bee as a hardworking person.
ππ§ πHive mindHoneybee, then brain, then honeybee. Wiktionary gives collective intelligence as one sense of the word.
π―π¦‘Honey badgerHoney pot, then badger. CLDR files the badger under honey, so the pair is already in the search words.
ππ―Honey on toastBread, then honey pot. CLDR files Bread under toast, and no other emoji.
π―πHoneymoonHoney pot, then crescent moon. Wiktionary explains it as the first month, or moon, after a wedding, which tends to be the sweetest.
π₯π―Milk and honeyGlass of milk, then honey pot. From English translations of Exodus, by Wiktionary: a land of abundance.
π€«ππ―οΈMind your own beeswaxShushing face, then honeybee, then candle. Wiktionary calls it an alteration of mind your own business.
ππQueen beeCrown, then honeybee. In the hive, Wikipedia says, she is usually the mother of most of the bees, if not all.
ππSave the beesHoneybee, then green heart. Wikipedia counts over 20,000 known species of bee in seven families. The emoji is named for one kind.
ππ€Spelling beeHoneybee, then input latin letters. This bee is a gathering, not an insect. Wikipedia finds the phrase in print by 1850.
πππππSwarmHoneybee 5 times. Five is a start. The repeater linked below goes further.
π΅π―Tea with honeyTeacup without handle, then honey pot. A teacup and the honey pot.
πβΎοΈπΌWaggle danceHoneybee, then infinity, then blossom. A figure-eight dance that tells the colony the direction and distance of flowers, by Wikipedia.