the word ‘drone’

The word ‘drone’ comes from the Old English ‘dran or dræn’ meaning ‘male honeybee’, which probably originated as an onomatopoeia.In the 16th century it was given the figurative sense of ‘idler’ or ‘lazy worker’, as male bees make no honey, which is sometimes given as a folk etymology of the word ‘drone’ itself.

Alongside ‘dran’, Old English also used the word ‘dore’ for male bees, but its meaning was broader, as is seen in ‘dumbledore’, meaning bumblebee. ‘Dore’ survives in Dutch as ‘dar’, meaning ‘drone’.