What does bitten mean?
"Bitten" is the past participle of the common English verb "bite," describing something that has been cut, seized, or punctured with the teeth or with the mouthparts of an animal such as a mosquito, tick, or snake. It appears most often in perfect constructions and passives — "she had been bitten," "the child was bitten" — where it signals a completed action with present relevance or consequence. Beyond its literal sense, "bitten" carries rich figurative weight: English speakers say they are "bitten by the bug" when seized by enthusiasm for a hobby, and the proverb "once bitten, twice shy" expresses the hard-won caution that follows a bad experience. The related adjective "hard-bitten" describes someone toughened by hardship. Because "bitten" and the simple past "bit" are frequently mixed up, writers should reserve "bitten" for forms requiring have, has, had, or a passive verb. The word descends from Old English "bitan," making it part of a Germanic word lineage stretching back well over a thousand years.
verbPast participle of the verb "bite": to have cut into or gripped something with the teeth, or (of an insect or snake) to have pierced skin with its mouthparts. It also appears adjectivally to describe someone who has experienced a bite.
- As the past participle of bite: having been cut or gripped with the teeth, or pierced by the mouthparts of an insect, spider, or snake.
- Used attributively or figuratively: affected or stung by an experience, as in 'once bitten, twice shy' or 'bitten by the travel bug'.
"She had been bitten by a mosquito during the evening walk."
"He had been bitten on the ankle by a dog while jogging through the park."
"After being burned by one risky investment, she was once bitten, twice shy."
"Once bitten, twice shy" — this little past participle has been teaching people caution for over four centuries, appearing in print since the 1500s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bitten
"Bitten" is the past participle of "bite," which comes from Old English "bitan," meaning to cut into or pierce with the teeth. This verb traces back to the Proto-Germanic root *bītaną, giving it a long line of cognates across the Germanic languages, including German "beißen," Dutch "bijten," and Swedish "bita." The strong-verb pattern that produces "bite–bit–bitten" reflects the ancient Germanic system of vowel-changing verb conjugations, which English preserves in pairs like "write–wrote–written."
Related word forms
How bitten is actually used
"Bitten" is standard in perfect tenses and passives ("has bitten" vs. "has been bitten"); using "bit" as the participle (e.g., "he was bit") is nonstandard in careful writing, though it survives colloquially in some dialects. The figurative sense carries connotations of wariness learned through experience.
Easily confused with bitten
"Bit" is the simple past tense of bite ("the dog bit me yesterday"), while "bitten" is the past participle used with have/has/had and in passive constructions ("I have been bitten").