From Proto-Finnic *kimalainën. Possibly a borrowing from Proto-Slavic *čьmeľь, itself likely onomatopoetic; attempts at deriving from kimeä (“shrill”) or kimaltaa (“to glitter”) are semantically unconvincing, since bumblebees don't glitter and the sound they emit is the opposite of shrill.
kimalainen
| Inflection of kimalainen (Kotus type 38/nainen, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | kimalainen | kimalaiset | |
| genitive | kimalaisen | kimalaisten kimalaisien | |
| partitive | kimalaista | kimalaisia | |
| illative | kimalaiseen | kimalaisiin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | kimalainen | kimalaiset | |
| accusative | nom. | kimalainen | kimalaiset |
| gen. | kimalaisen | ||
| genitive | kimalaisen | kimalaisten kimalaisien | |
| partitive | kimalaista | kimalaisia | |
| inessive | kimalaisessa | kimalaisissa | |
| elative | kimalaisesta | kimalaisista | |
| illative | kimalaiseen | kimalaisiin | |
| adessive | kimalaisella | kimalaisilla | |
| ablative | kimalaiselta | kimalaisilta | |
| allative | kimalaiselle | kimalaisille | |
| essive | kimalaisena | kimalaisina | |
| translative | kimalaiseksi | kimalaisiksi | |
| abessive | kimalaisetta | kimalaisitta | |
| instructive | — | kimalaisin | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||