agenbiten.

Etymology: Originally < again- comb. form (compare forms, and see discussion of the historical phonology, at again adv.) + either bit n.¹ or bite n. (although the latter is apparently first attested later: see discussion at both entries), after post-classical Latin remorsus remorse n. The later forms all show varying degrees of remodelling or attempted modernization of the Middle English word.Currency of the word. The word occurs in the title of a work by Dan Michel (see quot. 1340), and all later uses result ultimately from this, although in more recent probably chiefly via Joyce's use of the word in Ulysses (see quot. 1922); compare the note at inwit n. 4. Pronunciation. As the word has no real modern currency except in allusion either to the Middle English word or to Joyce, its pronunciation varies greatly. In reference to Dan Michel's work (especially by philologists), the word is often pronounced /əˈjɛnbɪtə/, or /ˈʌɪənˌbɪtə/ (or sometimes with /iː/ in the third syllable). Pronunciations with medial /ɡ/ reflect various degrees of modernization, as do those with the second element pronounced identically to bite n. Occasional further variants. A form againbite, with complete modernization of both elements, is also occasionally attested from the late 19th cent., normally in the context of discussion of the existence of the Middle English word.