agenbite means remorse, ayenbite. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
AGENBITE — [Noun] A gnawing remorse, the persistent pricking of a guilty conscience. Learned borrowing from Middle English ayenbite, from Old English agēn ("again, back") and bite ("bite"), thus literally "again-bite" or "back-bite." Unlike regret, a diffuse sadness for a past action, or compunction, a momentary flicker of unease, agenbite is the archaic, rhythmic torment of a debt internalized. It is the taste of copper in the mouth long after the lie, the phantom ache of an old wound when the weather turns, the relentless, metronomic drip of a forgotten promise on the stone floor of the mind—a relic of a worldview where the self is its own relentless creditor, and the past a creature with teeth.
noun
- Remorse, ayenbite.“Speaking to me. They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience.”