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"to bite" in seven languages

Meaningto bite

Spanish

morder

/moɾˈdeɾ/

inherited

French

mordre

/mɔʁdʁ/

inherited

Participle mordu.

Italian

mordere

/ˈmɔrdere/

inherited

Participle morso, also 'a bite'.

Portuguese

morder

/mohˈdeh/

inherited

Romanian

mușca

/muʃˈka/

other source · probably Latin *MORSICĀRE 'to nibble' (from MORSUM, participle of MORDĒRE); disputed

Catalan

mossegar

/musəˈɡa/

other source · Latin *MORSICĀRE 'to nibble' (from MORSUM, participle of MORDĒRE)

English

bite

/baɪt/

native English · Old English bītan

English → Italianto bitemordereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: remorse, morsel, mordant.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

MORDĒRE‘to bite’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

MORDĒRE survives everywhere, but French and Italian moved the stress back (mordre, mòrdere) while Spanish kept it on the ending. Remorse is 'biting back' at your conscience.

English relatives: remorse, morsel, mordant

Sound laws at work

Final vowels

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In a sentence

  • esEl perro mordió al cartero.
  • frLe chien a mordu le facteur.
  • itIl cane ha morso il postino.
  • ptO cachorro mordeu o carteiro.
  • roCâinele l-a mușcat pe poștaș.
  • caEl gos va mossegar el carter.
  • enThe dog bit the postman.

More in Core verbs

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