# the bee's knees

Pronunciation: say "thuh beez NEEZ" US /ðə ˌbiz ˈniz/, UK /ðə ˌbiːz ˈniːz/

## Idiom

1. Something or someone excellent, wonderful beyond the ordinary, or cool. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Someone or something that is really great or cool.
   - _After one taste of the homemade peach pie, the whole table agreed it was the bee's knees._
   - _Since his promotion he struts around the office as if he were the bee's knees._

## Origin

Attested since 1922 and of unclear origin, it most likely arose in imitation of the many animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s, such as the cat's pyjamas, the cat's whiskers and the cat's meow. Other suggestions include the dancer Bee Jackson (a popular folk etymology), a corruption of business, a deliberate but unattested inversion of the older bee's knee "something small or insignificant" (late 18th century), and the visible blobs of pollen on bees' legs.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/the-bee-s-knees (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).