bite
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bite¹
- /baɪt/
Sounds like bight, by't, byte · Rhymes with -aɪt
Where it comes from
From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”).
Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).
verb bites · biting · bit · bitten
- To cut into something by clamping the teeth. As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.
- To hold something by clamping one's teeth.
- To attack with the teeth. That dog is about to bite!
- To behave aggressively; to reject advances. If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite.
- To take hold; to establish firm contact with. I needed snow chains to make the tires bite.
- To have significant effect, often negative. For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite.
- To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught. Are the fish biting today?
- To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor. I've planted the story. Do you think they'll bite?
- To sting. These mosquitoes are really biting today!
- To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent. It bites like pepper or mustard.
- To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure. Pepper bites the mouth.
- To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing. At the laſt it [wine] biteth like a ſerpent, and ſtingeth like ‖ an adder.
- To take or keep a firm hold. The anchor bites.
- To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to. The anchor bites the ground.
- To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck. This music really bites.
- To perform oral sex on. Used in invective. You don't like that I sat on your car? Bite me.
- To plagiarize, to imitate. He always be biting my moves.
- To deceive or defraud; to take in.
noun bites
- The act of biting. […]I have knowne a very good Fiſher angle diligently four or ſix hours in a day, for three or four dayes together for a River Carp, and not have a bite[…]
- The wound left behind after having been bitten. That snake bite really hurts!
-
The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.
After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites.
Similar: sting
- A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful. There were only a few bites left on the plate.
- Something unpleasant. In February of this year, 9to5 was forced to lay off four of its paid staff, and began to feel the bite of its high-rent downtown office space.
- An act of plagiarism. That song is a bite of my song!
- A small meal or snack. a bite to eat
- incisiveness, provocativeness, exactness.
- Aggression. Kathy Santen is full of bite as the bizarrely seduced Lady Anne, although her exaggerated diction is a bit too snappishly Shakespearean.
- The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.
- A cheat; a trick; a fraud. The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching.
- A sharper; one who cheats. [I]t was conjectured, that Peregrine was a bite from the beginning, who had found credit on account of his effrontery and appearance, and impoſed himſelf upon the town as a young gentleman of fortune.
- A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
- A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money. I know three Americans who are running a bar. The cops come in all the time for a bite.
- Ellipsis of sound bite cold open: Starting a TV newscast with video or a bite from the lead story rather than starting with the anchor or the standard show open.
- The turn that a spin bowler imparts to a pitch.
BITE²
noun
- Acronym of behavior, information, thoughts, emotions (“four aspects of people's lives that a cult attempts to control”).
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: sting, chomp, pungency, morsel, prick, burn, nosh, snack, collation, sharpness, insect bite, lump, pinch, nibble, mouthful, munch
Translations
Every language
verb cut into by clamping the teeth
| Español | morder, tarascar, atarazar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물어떼다 mureotteda, 깨물다 kkaemulda |
| 中文 | 咬 yǎo |
| हिन्दी | काटना kāṭnā, डसना ḍasnā, दंश dañś |
| Kiswahili | -uma |
| Português | morder |
| Français | mordre |
| Deutsch | beißen |
| Italiano | mordere |
| Ελληνικά | δαγκώνω dagkóno |
| Română | mușca |
| Русский | отку́сывать otkúsyvatʹ, откуси́ть otkusítʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | cắn |
| العربية | عَضَّ ʕaḍḍa, قَضَمَ qaḍama |
| עברית | נגס nagás |
verb hold something by clamping one’s teeth
| Español | morder |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물다 mulda |
| 日本語 | 噛む kamu |
| 中文 | 咬住 yǎozhù, 咬 yǎo |
| हिन्दी | काटना kāṭnā |
| Português | abocanhar |
| Français | mordre |
| Ελληνικά | δαγκώνω dagkóno |
| Русский | куса́ть kusátʹ, укуси́ть ukusítʹ, грызть gryztʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | cắn |
| العربية | عَضَّ ʕaḍḍa |
verb attack with the teeth — see also maul
| Español | morder, tarascar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물어떼다 mureotteda |
| 中文 | 咬 yǎo |
| हिन्दी | दंश dañś, डसना ḍasnā |
| Português | morder |
| Français | mordre |
| Deutsch | beißen |
| Italiano | morsicare |
| Ελληνικά | δαγκώνω dagkóno |
| Română | mușca |
| Русский | куса́ть kusátʹ, укуси́ть ukusítʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | cắn |
| עברית | נשך nashákh |
verb take hold
| Español | agarrar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물다 mulda |
| Português | agarrar |
| Français | maintenir, garder |
| Русский | хвата́ть xvatátʹ |
verb fall for a deception
| 한국어 | 속다 sokda, 돌리다 dollida |
|---|---|
| Português | cair |
| Français | mordre, tomber dans le panneau, marcher |
| Ελληνικά | τσιμπάω tsimpáo |
| Русский | попа́сться popástʹsja, купи́ться kupítʹsja |
verb bite a baited hook or other lure
| Español | picar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물다 mulda |
| Português | morder |
| Français | mordre |
| Deutsch | beißen |
| Italiano | abboccare |
| Ελληνικά | τσιμπάω tsimpáo |
| Română | mușca |
| Русский | клева́ть klevátʹ, клю́нуть kljúnutʹ |
verb sting
| Español | picar, mordisquear, mordiscar, morder |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물다 mulda, 쏘다 ssoda |
| 中文 | 咬 yǎo, 叮 dīng |
| Kiswahili | -uma |
| Português | picar, morder |
| Français | mordre, piquer |
| Deutsch | beißen |
| Italiano | pungere |
| Ελληνικά | τσιμπάω tsimpáo |
| Română | mușca, înțepa |
| Русский | куса́ть kusátʹ, укуси́ть ukusítʹ, жа́лить žálitʹ, ужа́лить užálitʹ |
noun act of biting
| Español | mordida, mordedura, mordisco, tarascada |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 묾 mum |
| हिन्दी | डसना ḍasnā |
| Português | mordedura, mordida |
| Français | morsure |
| Deutsch | Biss |
| Italiano | morso, puntura, morsicatura |
| Ελληνικά | δάγκωμα dágkoma, δαγκωματιά dagkomatiá |
| Română | mușcătură |
| Русский | уку́с ukús |
| עברית | נגיסה n'gisá, נשיכה n'shikhá |
noun wound left behind after having been bitten
| Español | mordedura, picadura |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물린 데 mullin de |
| 日本語 | 咬傷 kōshō |
| हिन्दी | दंश dañś |
| Português | mordedura, mordida |
| Français | morsure |
| Deutsch | Biss |
| Italiano | morsicatura |
| Ελληνικά | δάγκωμα dágkoma |
| Română | mușcătură |
| Русский | уку́с ukús |
| Tiếng Việt | vết cắn |
Talk about this word "bite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bite. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bite. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bite "bite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bite.Cite this
@misc{bite_2026,
title = {bite},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bite},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
