# drone

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɹəʊn/ · frequency rank #7,127

## Definitions
1. A male ant, bee, or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen.
2. One who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
3. One who performs menial or tedious work.
4. A remotely operated vehicle.
5. A remotely operated vehicle.
6. A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members.
7. One who lacks the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character.
8. In dronification kink, one who is mindless and obedient to a dominant, characterized by a detached and robotic identity and an anonymous appearance, typically composed of a latex suit and gas mask.

## Etymology
From Middle English drane, from Old English drān, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drēniz, *drēnuz, *drenô (“an insect, drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₁n- (“bee, drone, hornet”). Cognate with Danish drone (“drone”), Dutch dar (“male bee or wasp”), German Drohne, dialectal German Dräne, Trehne, Trene (“drone”), Low German drone (“drone”), Swedish drönje, drönare (“drone”).
The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.

## Easily confused with
- **drop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drop)
- **dune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-dune)
- **drunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drunk)
- **drove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drove)
- **drops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drops)
- **drown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drown)
- **Duane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-duane)
- **drool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drool)
- **Dunne** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-dunne)
- **Druze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-druze)
- **drones** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drones)
- **droves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-droves)
- **drowns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drowns)
- **drowned** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drone-vs-drowned)
- **don** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/don-vs-drone)
- **doe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/doe-vs-drone)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dre-vs-drone)
- **done** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/done-vs-drone)
- **dont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dont-vs-drone)
- **dose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dose-vs-drone)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ddrone`, `dorne`, `drnoe`, `droen`, `dronne`, `drrone`, `rdone`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/drone