different between honey vs hokey

English

Alternative forms

• hunny

Etymology

From Middle English hony, honi, from Old English huni?, from Proto-West Germanic *hunag, from Proto-Germanic *hunag? (compare West Frisian hunich, German Honig), from earlier *hunang? (compare Swedish honung), from Proto-Indo-European *kn?h?onk-o-s, from *kn?h?ónks. Cognate with Middle Welsh canecon (“gold”), Latin canicae pl (“bran”), Tocharian B kronk?e (“bee”), Albanian qengjë (“beehive”), Ancient Greek ?????? (knêkos, “safflower”), Northern Kurdish ?an (“beehive”), Northern Luri ????? (gonj, “Bee”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?ni/
• Rhymes: -?ni
• Hyphenation: hon?ey

Noun

honey (usually uncountable, plural honeys)

1. (uncountable) A viscous, sweet fluid produced from plant nectar by bees. Often used to sweeten tea or to spread on baked goods.

2. (countable) A variety of this substance.
3. (rare) Nectar.
4. (figuratively) Something sweet or desirable.
   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3, lines 91–93:

     O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
5. A term of affection.

6. (countable, informal) A woman, especially an attractive one.

7. A spectrum of pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like that of most types of (the sweet substance) honey.

Synonyms

• (sweet fluid from bees): mel
• (term of affection): darling, sweetie, see also Thesaurus:sweetheart

Hypernyms

• food

Hyponyms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: oni

Translations

Adjective

honey (not comparable)

1. Involving or resembling honey.
   • 1599 William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 1, scene 2:

     So work the honey-bees, / Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

2. Of a pale yellow to brownish-yellow colour, like most types of honey.

Translations

Verb

honey (third-person singular simple present honeys, present participle honeying, simple past and past participle honeyed)

1. (transitive) To sweeten; to make agreeable.
2. (intransitive) To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments.
3. (intransitive) To be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn.

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• Appendix:Colors

English

Alternative forms

• hokie, hoaky, hoky

Etymology

From the verb hoke (“to give an artificial feel to”), from hokum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h??ki/
• (US) IPA: /?ho?ki/

  Rhymes: -??ki

Adjective

hokey (comparative hokier, superlative hokiest)

1. (US, colloquial) phony, as if a hoax; noticeably contrived; of obviously flimsy credibility or quality

2. (US, colloquial) corny; overly or unbelievably sentimental

   Synonyms: cheesy, kitschy

Related terms

• hokiness
• hoke
• hokum

Translations

See also

• Hokey Cokey
• hokeypokey
• hokey-tokey

Further reading

• “hokey”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.