Feminine

Drohne

Meaning

Concepts

(feminine) drone (male bee)
(dated, feminine) sponger, parasite
(feminine) drone (unmanned aircraft)

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdʁoːnə/

Borrowed from Middle Low German

Cognate with Middle High German

Cognate with Old High German

In summary

Ca. 1600, from Middle Low German drōne (variant of commoner drāne), from Old Saxon drāna, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drēnuz. The Low German form replaced older Tren(e), Trän(e), from Middle High German tren(e), from Old High German treno, from the Germanic ablaut variant *drenô. This may have been reinforced by the desire to avoid homonymy with Träne (“tear”). The word was originally a masculine but became feminine in Early Modern German, probably under the influence of Biene (“bee”). Drones were at that time distinguished only by function; the fact that they were males was generally unknown. The aircraft sense is a semantic loan from cognate English drone.