Etymology Explorer › Old English

Where does “bītan” come from?

bītan (Old English) comes from Proto-West Germanic bītan, from Proto-Germanic bītaną, from Proto-Indo-European bʰeyd-, from Proto-Indo-European bʰey- — bee.

bītan (Old English): to bite

Definitions

  1. to bite

Ancestry of “bītan”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-West Germanicbītanto bite
2Proto-Germanicbītanąto bite
3Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰeyd-to split
4Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰey-bee

Words derived from “bītan”

  • bite
  • byte
  • nibble
  • nibbling
  • frostbite
  • biter
  • bytecode
  • snakebite
  • gigabyte
  • megabyte
  • overbite
  • terabyte
  • kilobyte
  • biteth
  • bitemark
  • bitewing
  • crossbite
  • multibyte
  • petabyte
  • nibbler
  • underbite
  • fleabite
  • exabyte
  • midbite
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰey- →