Dogbite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A puncture or tear in the skin inflicted by a dog's teeth ; the act of a dog clamping its jaws down on a person or animal
2. An injury left by the teeth of a canine ; the sharp chomp a dog makes when it sinks its teeth into something
3. A wound produced when a dog bites someone ; a bite administered by a dog using its jaws and teeth

Etymology: Dogbite is a plain compound: "dog" followed by "bite," with no hidden history behind it. Both parts are native English. "Dog" comes from Old English "docga," a word whose origin is uncertain, and "bite" comes from Old English "bītan," which has cognates across the Germanic languages. Putting the two together produced a noun for the wound a dog leaves, and the sound of that bite. The compound follows a common English pattern, in which an animal name leads and an action or result follows, as in "snakebite" or "horsefly." Because the parts are so transparent, the word needs little explanation, and its meaning has stayed close to its literal sense: the injury, or the snapping chomp itself.

Synonyms: bite