colmena

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *colmēna, from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia, most likely from Proto-Celtic *kolmēnā, derived from *kŏlmos (“straw”). Compare Galician colmea and Portuguese colmeia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kolˈmena/ [kolˈme.na]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: col‧me‧na

Noun

colmena f (plural colmenas)

1. beehive

Derived terms

• colmenar (“apiary”)
• colmenero (“beekeeper”)
• colmenilla

 

Descendants

• → Central Tarahumara: kolimena
• → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: cormiena, colmiena

Further reading

• “colmena”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014