the bee's knees

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the bee's knees

Where it comes from

Attested since 1922, of unclear origin. There are several suggested origins, but it most likely arose in imitation of the numerous animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s such as the cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, cat's meow, gnat's elbow, monkey's eyebrows etc.

A popular folk etymology has the phrase referring to the world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Another suggestion is that the phrase is a corruption of business. The singular bee's knee is attested from the late 18th century meaning something small or insignificant in the phrase big as a bee's knee. Also as weak as a bee's knee is attested in Ireland (1870). It is possible that the bee's knees is a deliberate inversion of this meaning but is not attested. Another possibility is that this is a reference to the (visible) blobs of pollen in bees' corbiculae.

noun

colloquial, dated, idiomatic, plural, plural only Something or someone excellent, surpassingly wonderful, or cool. We had strawberry shortcake for breakfast on Saturday and the kids thought it was the bee’s knees.
Similar: cat's meow, cat's pyjamas, dog's bollocks, the bomb, all that and a bag of chips, antelope's cantaloupes, ant's pants, bee's knees, bollocks, cat's ass, cat's pajamas, cat's whiskers
plural, plural only Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bee, -'s, knee. Corbiculae.

Translations

Every language

noun something excellent, outstanding

Español	la mamá de Tarzán, lo más, la hostia, la leche, la polla, la repera
中文	好極了 /好极了 hǎo jíle, 很棒 hěn bàng
Português	fora de série, do balacobaco
Français	c'est le must, le nec plus ultra
Deutsch	das Gelbe vom Ei
Italiano	il meglio del meglio
Русский	отпад otpad

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MLA

"the bee's knees." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/the%20bee's%20knees. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

the bee's knees. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/the%20bee's%20knees

Chicago

"the bee's knees." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/the%20bee's%20knees.

BibTeX

@misc{the_bee_s_knees_2026,
  title = {the bee's knees},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/the%20bee's%20knees},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}