Etymology

bitterness

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Today it means: The quality of having a bitter taste. Full definition →

Middle English bitternesse ← Old English biternes
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited frombiternes“bitterness; grief”
  2. Middle English · inherited frombitternesse
  3. English todaybitterness

From Middle English bitternesse, biternesse, from Old English biternes (“bitterness; grief”), equivalent to bitter + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.