remord

/ɹɪˈmɔːd/

Etymology

From the Middle English remorden, from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French remordre and its etymon the Latin remordeō, from re- + mordeō; compare the Catalan remordir, remordre, the French remordre, the Italian rimordere, the Old Occitan remordre, the Portuguese remorder, and the Spanish remorder.

Why this word is great

REMORD — [Verb] To feel remorse or to cause someone to feel remorse. From the Latin remordeō ("to bite again, vex"), from re- ("again") + mordeō ("to bite"). Unlike "regret" (which is a general sadness over the past) or "rebuke" (which is a sharp reprimand), "remord" is the slow, insistent gnaw of conscience—a tooth sunk into the soul. It is the midnight whisper that will not let you sleep, the cold weight in the stomach of the betrayer, or the way a single unkind word, once spoken, circles back to haunt the speaker. Guilt is not a wound but a parasite, and it feeds best in silence.

verb

  1. To feel remorse.“Beyng meued either with loue or pitie, or other wyse his conscience remording against the destruction of so noble a prince.”
  2. To excite to remorse; to rebuke.“Dyvers People That Remord This Rymyng Agaynst the Scot”