Bitterness

How to spell bitterness

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce bitterness

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bitterness mean?

1. nounA feeling of deep, lingering anger or resentment caused by unfair treatment or disappointment.
2. nounA sharp, harsh flavour like that of strong coffee or dark chocolate.

Bitterness in a sentence

• Years after the divorce, a quiet bitterness still coloured their conversations.

• The bitterness of the overbrewed coffee made her wince.

• He spoke about the layoffs with obvious bitterness in his voice.

• A little sugar offsets the natural bitterness of the dark chocolate.

Where does bitterness come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from the native English adjective 'bitter', which comes from Old English 'biter', meaning sharp, cutting, or harsh to the senses. That adjective is closely related to the verb 'bite', because a bitter taste was felt to nip or sting the tongue much as teeth bite into something. The abstract noun was formed by adding the Old English suffix '-nes' (modern '-ness'), which turns a quality into the state of having that quality, giving the sense of being bitter. Over the centuries the meaning broadened from the literal sharp flavour to the figurative feeling of deep resentment or sorrow, since both share the idea of something painful and hard to swallow. The spelling trap is purely mechanical: a doubled 't' in the middle and the simple '-ness' ending, where some writers wrongly drop a letter or expect a tricky suffix.

How the word is built

• bitter (sharp, biting taste; from Old English biter, related to bite)
• -ness (noun suffix forming a state or quality)