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Question: What is a collective noun for bees?
Answer: A swarm of bees.
Bees are a mass noun, which means they don’t have a plural form. Bees is the plural form of bee, while the swarm is the collective noun for bees. Collective nouns are words or phrases that refer to groups of things or people. For example, the word herd refers to a group of cows. Swarm is a collective noun for bees because it refers to a compact mass of bees.
A swarm of bees is a group of more than one bee. A cloud of bees is a group of bees in the air. A hive of bees is a group of bees under control in a building. A nation of bees is a large mass of people (as in “the US”.)
The word swarm in connection with bees (rather than bumblebee or honeybee) reflects a historical division between insects that sting and those that don’t.
Swarm can also be used as a verb meaning to form a crowd or mass. For example, “The crowd swarmed around Tom’s car.” Or “The delegates swarmed into the room.”
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