remordere

Remordere is a Latin verb meaning to bite again or to sting again, formed with the prefix re- meaning again and the verb mordere meaning to bite. The primary sense is literal—a second bite or sting—but it is also used figuratively to describe renewed distress, agitation, or the arousal of remorse and conscience. In Latin, the word is most often found in late Latin and medieval texts, and is relatively rare in classical authors.

Morphology and usage: Remordere belongs to the -ere verb class related to mordere. Its standard paradigm follows the patterns of other -ere verbs derived from mordere, with typical principal parts such as remordeo, remordere, remordi, remorsum. Being transitive, remordere takes a direct object in the literal sense, or can be used with a cognitive or emotional target to express that something causes renewed mental suffering or conscience-striking effect.

Distribution and context: The term is chiefly attested in Late Latin and medieval prose and poetry, where authors discuss guilt, repentance, memory, or moral revulsion in vivid terms. Because of its rarity in earlier Latin, modern dictionaries usually note remordere as a historical or archaism-era verb rather than a common classical or ecclesiastical term.

See also: mordere.