Word.ws English Dictionary

bishy barnabee

bishy barnabee noun: a ladybird.

Noun

bishy barnabee (plural bishy barnabees)

  1. (Norfolk, UK, archaic, dialectal) A ladybird.
    • On finding a ladybird, a girl would place it on the back of her hand and gently blow it away after reciting the rhyme:
      Bishy, bishy Barnabee
      Tell me when my wedding will be, […]2009, Sylvia Kent, Folklore of Essex
    • “Bishies...bishy barnabees, them's called hereabouts. Some say the name is ladybird, but them's more likely to be eaten by a bird.”2010, Clodagh Chapman, Very Curious and Capricious Agent, page 14

Forms of bishy barnabee

pluralbishy barnabees

Origin of bishy barnabee

Thought to be from Bishop Barnaby.

Questions about bishy barnabee

What does bishy barnabee mean?
Bishy barnabee means a ladybird.
What part of speech is bishy barnabee?
Bishy barnabee is a noun.
What is the plural of bishy barnabee?
The plural of bishy barnabee is bishy barnabees.

Words near bishy barnabee in the dictionary

  1. bishopwort
  2. bishoujo
  3. bishounen
  4. bisht
  5. Bishton
  6. bishy barnabee
  7. bishy barnabees
  8. bishydroxamic
  9. bishydroxamic acid
  10. bishydroxamic acids
  11. bishydroxamide

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bishy barnabee (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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