Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#BITECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#BITE biten, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#BITECategory:English terms derived from Old English#BITE bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#BITECategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#BITE *bītan, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#BITECategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#BITE *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#BITE *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”), Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: bīt, IPA^(key): /baɪt/Category:English 1-syllable words#BITECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BITE
• Rhymes: -aɪtCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪt#BITECategory:Rhymes:English/aɪt/1 syllable#BITE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BITE
• Homophones: bight, by't, byteCategory:English terms with homophones#BITE

Verb

bite (third-person singular simple present bites, present participle biting, simple past bit, past participle bitten or bit)Category:English lemmas#BITECategory:English verbs#BITECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE) To cut into something by clamping the teeth.

   As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE) To hold something by clamping one's teeth.
3. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To attack with the teeth.

   That dog is about to bite!Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

4. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE, chiefly in the negativeCategory:English negative polarity items#BITE) To behave aggressively; to reject advances.

   If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

5. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To take hold; to establish firm contact with.

   I needed snow chains to make the tires bite.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

6. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To have significant effect, often negative.

   For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

7. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE, of a fish) To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.

   Are the fish biting today?Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

8. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE, figurative) 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?Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

9. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE, of an insect) To sting.

   These mosquitoes are really biting today!Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

10. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.

    It bites like pepper or mustard.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

11. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE, sometimes figurative) To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure.

    Pepper bites the mouth.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:

      […] froſts doe bite the Meads […]

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

12. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:32, column 1:

      At the laſt it [wine] biteth like a ſerpent, and ſtingeth like ‖ an adder.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

13. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE) To take or keep a firm hold.

    The anchor bites.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

14. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE) To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.

    The anchor bites the ground.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

    • 1859, Charles Dickens, “Fire Rises”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book II (The Golden Thread), page 152:

      […] the last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, and it now turned and turned with nothing to bite […]

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

15. (stativeCategory:English stative verbs#BITE, slangCategory:English slang#BITE) To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.

    This music really bites.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

16. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE, informalCategory:English informal terms#BITE, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#BITE) To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.

    You don't like that I sat on your car? Bite me.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

17. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BITE, African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#BITE, slangCategory:English slang#BITE) To plagiarize, to imitate.

    He always be biting my moves.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

18. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#BITE, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BITE, slangCategory:English slang#BITE) To deceive or defraud; to take in.

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

bite (wound)

Wikipedia

bite (countable and uncountable, plural bites)Category:English lemmas#BITECategory:English nouns#BITECategory:English uncountable nouns#BITECategory:English countable nouns#BITECategory:English countable nouns#BITECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. The act of biting.
   • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VIII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, pages 168–169:

     […] 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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

   • 2016, Mark Z. Danielewski, The Familiar, Volume 3: Honeysuckle & Pain, Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 513:

     Now trust me when I tell you, young lady, teeth are something you want to take care of. They’re these rare white things that give us pleasure throughout our life. And give us bite. Our inheritance. Our means of survival. Our right to rule. Their enamel is the front line. And that line needs to be won every day.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

3. The wound left behind after having been bitten.

   That snake bite really hurts!

   Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

4. The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.

   Synonym: sting

   After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

5. 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

   • 1906, Hamilton Drummond, The Chain of Seven Lives, F. V. White & Co., Ltd., pages 182–183:

     Not a soul in Corlaix will dare give us bite, sup, or shelter; and we shall die starved in a ditch, all four of us—that much we are our own, but in all else we are Monseigneur’s; all else, I say, all—all.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

6. (slangCategory:English slang#BITE) Something unpleasant.
   • 1985 December 7, Sib Connor, “9to5: Still Putting In A Day's Work”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 2:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

7. (slangCategory:English slang#BITE) An act of plagiarism.

   That song is a bite of my song!Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

8. A small meal or snack.

   a bite to eatCategory:English terms with collocations#BITE

   I'll have a quick bite to quiet my stomach until dinner.Category:English terms with usage examples#BITE

   • 1988, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, spoken by Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen):

     Wilma, I promise you one thing. Whatever scum is behind this, not a single cop on this police force will have a minute's rest until he's behind bars. Now let's grab a bite to eat.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

   • 2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star:

     Would I take someone here for a first date? No. Would I go here for a cheap bite? Also no...

     Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

9. (figuratively, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#BITE) incisiveness, provocativeness, exactness.
10. (figuratively, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#BITE) Aggression.
    • 1996 April 22, Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times:

      Kathy Santen is full of bite as the bizarrely seduced Lady Anne, although her exaggerated diction is a bit too snappishly Shakespearean.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

    • 1998, Vidyut Bhagwat, “Pandita Ramabai’s Strī-Dharma Nīti and Tarabai Shinde’s Strī-Puruṣ Tulanā: The Inner Unity of the Texts”, in Anne Feldhaus, editor, Images of Women in Maharashtrian Society, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 211:

      In Tarabai’s text this exposure is direct, unusually blunt, full of bite and ridicule, and highly polemical.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

    • 2011 March 2, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 3 - 0 Aston Villa”, in BBC‎:

      City scored the goals but periods of ball possession were shared - the difference being Villa lacked bite in the opposition final third.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

11. 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.
12. (colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#BITE, datedCategory:English dated terms#BITE) A cheat; a trick; a fraud.
    • 1725, Thomas Gordon, The Humorist:

      The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
13. (colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#BITE, datedCategory:English dated terms#BITE, slangCategory:English slang#BITE) A sharper; one who cheats.
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Pickle Seems Tolerably Well Reconciled to His Cage; […] ”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 173:

      [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.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

    • 1828, The Newcastle Magazine, volume 7, page 85:

      So he went home cursing the Yorkshire bites, and swearing there was no living among them […]

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

14. (printingCategory:en:Printing#BITE) 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.
15. (slangCategory:English slang#BITE) A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money.
    • 1993, William S. Burroughs, edited by Oliver Harris, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, →ISBN, page 92:

      I know three Americans who are running a bar. The cops come in all the time for a bite.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

16. (televisionCategory:en:Television#BITE) Ellipsis of sound biteCategory:English ellipses#BITE.
    • 2015, Robert A. Papper, Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook:

      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.

      Category:English terms with quotations#BITE

      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
17. (cricketCategory:en:Cricket#BITE) The turn that a spin bowler imparts to a pitch.

Anagrams

• Ebit, Beit, EBIT, ebit, tebi-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪtɛ]Category:Czech terms with IPA pronunciation#BITE
• Homophone: byteCategory:Czech terms with homophones#BITE

Noun

biteCategory:Czech non-lemma forms#BITECategory:Czech noun forms#BITECategory:Czech entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. vocative singular of bit

Alternative forms

• bitte

Etymology

From Old NorseCategory:French terms derived from Old Norse#BITE biti (“beam, girder”)Category:French undefined derivations#BITE, from Proto-GermanicCategory:French terms derived from Proto-Germanic#BITE *bitô, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#BITE *bʰeyd- (“to split”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bit/Category:French 1-syllable words#BITECategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#BITE

Noun

bite f (plural bites)Category:French lemmas#BITECategory:French nouns#BITECategory:French countable nouns#BITECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:French feminine nouns#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. (slangCategory:French slang#BITE, vulgarCategory:French vulgarities#BITE) knob, cock, dick

   Synonym: sguègue

   Il a souri quand j'ai mis la main entre ses cuisses et je me suis mise à frotter sa grosse bite.

   He smiled when I put my hand between his thighs and started to rub his big cock.

   Category:French terms with usage examples#BITE

   • 2006, “Je veux te voir”, in Pop Up, performed by Yelle:

     Je veux te voir / Dans un film pornographique / En action avec ta bite / Forme potatoes ou bien frites

     I want to see you / In a porno film / In action with your dick / Whether it's a French fry or a chunky chip

     Category:French terms with quotations#BITE

   • 2012, “Wesh Morray”, in Futur, performed by Booba:

     J'sors ma bite je la baise, tu sors ton biff tu la sors

     I get out my dick and I fuck her, you get out your cash and take her out

     Category:French terms with quotations#BITE

   • 2015 [2004], Stéphane Dompierre, Un petit pas pour l'homme, →ISBN, page 57:

     J’ai la bite tellement raide que si son copain passe, il pourra me l’arracher et me péter les dents avec. Je vis dans un film érotique et je ne baise pas. Je n’y comprends rien.

     My cock is so hard that if her boyfriend comes by, he'll be able to rip it off and smash my teeth in with it. I live in a porn film and I'm not getting laid. I don't understand it.

     Category:French terms with quotations#BITE

Further reading

• “bite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)Category:Requests for etymologies in Garo entries#BITE

Noun

biteCategory:Garo lemmas#BITECategory:Garo nouns#BITECategory:Garo entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. fruit

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Italian terms borrowed from English#BITECategory:Italian unadapted borrowings from English#BITECategory:Italian terms derived from English#BITE bite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbajt/Category:Italian 1-syllable words#BITECategory:Italian terms with IPA pronunciation#BITE
• Rhymes: -ajtCategory:Rhymes:Italian/ajt#BITECategory:Rhymes:Italian/ajt/1 syllable#BITE

Noun

bite m (invariable)Category:Italian lemmas#BITECategory:Italian nouns#BITECategory:Italian countable nouns#BITECategory:Italian indeclinable nouns#BITECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#BITECategory:Italian masculine nouns#BITECategory:Pages with entries#BITECategory:Pages with 19 entries#BITE

1. (dentistryCategory:it:Dentistry#BITE) split (dental device)