bite
/baɪt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.31 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is."
- "That dog is about to bite!"
- "If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite."
- "I needed snow chains to make the tires bite."
- "For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite."
- "Are the fish biting today?"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite 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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: biten, bītan, *bītan, *bītaną, *bʰeyd-