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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bitter.

Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈbɪt.ə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪt.ʰə]Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪʔ.ə]Received-Pronunciation, also, colloquial/ˈbɪ.tɚ/General-American
  1. Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance).

    The coffee tasted bitter.
  2. Harsh, piercing, acerbic or stinging.

  3. Hateful or hostile.

    They're bitter enemies.
  4. Cynical and resentful.

    I've been bitter ever since that defeat.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰidrós Proto-Germanic *bitraz Proto-West Germanic *bitr Old English biter Middle English bittre English bitter From Middle English bitter, bittre, from Old English bitter, biter (“bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitr, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz (“bitter”), equivalent to bite + -er (agent noun suffix) used attributively. Cognate with Saterland Frisian, West Frisian, Low German, Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bitter, Icelandic bitur (all meaning “bitter”).

adv/ˈbɪt.ə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪt.ʰə]Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪʔ.ə]Received-Pronunciation, also, colloquial/ˈbɪ.tɚ/General-American
  1. To an intense or severe degree; bitterly.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰidrós Proto-Germanic *bitraz Proto-West Germanic *bitr Old English biter Middle English bittre English bitter From Middle English bitter, bittre, from Old English bitter, biter (“bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitr, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz (“bitter”), equivalent to bite + -er (agent noun suffix) used attributively. Cognate with Saterland Frisian, West Frisian, Low German, Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bitter, Icelandic bitur (all meaning “bitter”).

noun/ˈbɪt.ə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪt.ʰə]Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪʔ.ə]Received-Pronunciation, also, colloquial/ˈbɪ.tɚ/General-American
  1. A liquid or powder, made from bitter herbs, used in mixed drinks or as a tonic.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A type of beer heavily flavored with hops.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A turn of a cable about the bitts.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰidrós Proto-Germanic *bitraz Proto-West Germanic *bitr Old English biter Middle English bittre English bitter From Middle English bitter, bittre, from Old English bitter, biter (“bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitr, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz (“bitter”), equivalent to bite + -er (agent noun suffix) used attributively. Cognate with Saterland Frisian, West Frisian, Low German, Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bitter, Icelandic bitur (all meaning “bitter”).

verb/ˈbɪt.ə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪt.ʰə]Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪʔ.ə]Received-Pronunciation, also, colloquial/ˈbɪ.tɚ/General-American
  1. To make bitter.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰidrós Proto-Germanic *bitraz Proto-West Germanic *bitr Old English biter Middle English bittre English bitter From Middle English bitter, bittre, from Old English bitter, biter (“bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitr, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz (“bitter”), equivalent to bite + -er (agent noun suffix) used attributively. Cognate with Saterland Frisian, West Frisian, Low German, Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bitter, Icelandic bitur (all meaning “bitter”).

noun/ˈbɪt.ə/Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪt.ʰə]Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɪʔ.ə]Received-Pronunciation, also, colloquial/ˈbɪ.tɚ/General-American
  1. A hardware system whose architecture is based around units of the specified number of bits (binary digits).

    in-compounds · informal
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English bit Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English bitter From bit + -er.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.