Mordendo

Mordendo is the present participle and gerund form of the verb morder in Portuguese and of mordere in Italian, carrying the meaning of “biting” or “the act of biting.” It is the Romance-language cognate of related forms in other languages, such as the Spanish mordiendo, which shares the same Latin root mordere.

In Portuguese, mordendo functions primarily as a gerund used with forms of estar or ficar to indicate ongoing action, as in estou mordendo or ele está mordendo a maçã. It can also appear in adverbial or temporal constructions to describe actions happening simultaneously with another, for example, Mordendo o pão, ele falava.

In Italian, mordendo is the present gerund of mordere. It is used with auxiliary verbs like stare to form present progressive constructions, such as Sto mordendo una mela. It may also appear in clauses describing actions performed concurrent with another event, for example, Camminava mordendo le labbra.

Etymology and related terms: mordendo derives from Latin mordere, meaning “to bite.” Related verbs exist in other Romance languages—Portuguese morder and Italian mordere—sharing the same root. In Italian, a related noun-adjective pair is mordente, a musical ornament known as the mordent in English, which illustrates how the same root has produced diverse meanings across domains.