Past tense of 'backbite'; to speak badly about someone or criticize them when they are not present.
From 'back' + 'bite'. This combines the direction 'back' (attacking from behind, not to their face) with 'bite' (to attack), creating a metaphor for verbal attack in the 15th century, alongside its variant 'backbited'.
The word 'backbit' survives as a past tense form, though 'backbited' and 'backbitten' are now more common—watching which past tense forms survive in a language tells us about cultural values, and we've emphasized 'bitten' because the metaphor of biting backwards feels more complete.
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