Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

beißen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: beissen, béissen, and Beißen

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German bīȥen, from Old High German bīȥan, from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt (“to split”).

Cognate with Dutch bijten, Low German bieten, English bite, Danish bide, Swedish bita.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaɪ̯sən/, [ˈbäe̯sn̩]
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

beißen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present beißt, past tense biss, past participle gebissen, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive or intransitive) to bite
  2. (transitive or intransitive) to sting; to burn; to be sharp; to be spicy
  3. (reflexive, slightly informal) to clash; to jar; to conflict [with mit (+ dative) ‘with something’ or plural subject] (of colors, plans, etc.)
    Rot und Rosa beißen sich. ― Red and pink clash.

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)
More information infinitive, present participle ...

1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

Composed forms of beißen (class 1 strong, auxiliary haben)
More information perfect, singular ...

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
Remove ads

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads