offendo

Offendo is the first-person singular present indicative form of the Italian verb offendere, meaning to offend or to insult. It is used to express that the speaker currently causes offense or disrespect.

As a regular -ere verb, its present tense forms are: io offendo, tu offendi, lui/lei offende, noi offendiamo, voi offendete, loro offendono. In compound tenses, the auxiliary is avere, for example ho offeso, hai offeso, ha offeso, abbiamo offeso, avete offeso, hanno offeso. The past participle is offeso (masculine singular) or offesa (feminine singular), and usually agrees with a preceding direct object if such an object is present.

Usage of offendere is transitive; it takes a direct object or a clause referring to what is being offended. It can describe actions that hurt someone’s feelings, violate social norms, or insult someone. Common examples include “Mi hai offeso” (You offended me) and “Questo ti offende” (This offends you). The term can appear in formal, informal, and literary registers, and it is often substituted by synonyms like insultare or irritare depending on nuance.

Etymology traces offendere to Latin offendere, from ob- ‘against’ and fend- ‘to strike, to push against,’ with the sense evolving from “to strike against” to “to offend.” The Italian verb shares this lineage with the English word offend, via the same Latin root.

See also: offesa, offendere, insultare, offendere la sensibilità.