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beißen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
beißen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
beißen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
beißen you have here. The definition of the word
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German
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle High German bīzen, from Old High German bīzan.
Cognate with Dutch bijten, Low German bieten, English bite, Danish bide, Swedish bita.
Pronunciation
Verb
beißen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present beißt, past tense biss, past participle gebissen, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive or intransitive) to bite
- (transitive or intransitive) to sting; to burn; to be sharp; to be spicy
- (reflexive, slightly informal, of colors and clothes) to clash; to jar
Usage notes
- In English, bloodsuckers are said to “bite”. In German, beißen is generally used with crawling bloodsuckers only, while stechen (“to sting”) is used with flying bloodsuckers. Thus, you speak of a Flohbiss (“flea bite”), but a Mückenstich (“mosquito bite”).
Conjugation
Conjugation of
beißen (class 1
strong, auxiliary
haben)
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Composed forms of
beißen (class 1
strong, auxiliary
haben)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “beißen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “beißen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “beißen” in Duden online
- “beißen” in OpenThesaurus.de