bicker
/ˈbɪkɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.56 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To patter.
verb
To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight.
noun
The process by which selective eating clubs at Princeton University choose new members.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "They bickered about dinner every evening."
- "petty things about which men cark and bicker"
- "Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention. Oh, the joys of travelling during the school holidays!"
- "Mean time unnumber'd glittering Streamlets play'd, / And hurled every-where their Waters ſheen; / That, as they bicker'd through the ſunny Glade, / Though reſtleſs ſtill themſelves, a lulling Murmur made."
- "I come from haunts of coot and hern, / I make a sudden sally, / And sparkle out among the fern, / To bicker down a valley."
- "And at the field fought before Bebriacum, ere the battailes joyned, tvvo Ægles had a conflict and bickered together in all their fights: and vvhen the one of them was foyled and overcome, a third came at the very inſtant from the ſunne riſing and chaſed the Victreſſe avvay."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bikjaną Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan Old Dutch *bikken Middle Dutch bickenbor. Proto-Germanic *-urōną Proto-West Germanic *-urōn Old English -erian Middle English -eren Middle English bikeren English bicker From Middle English bikeren (“to attack”), from Middle Dutch bicken (“to stab, thrust, attack”) + -er (frequentative suffix), from Old Dutch *bikken, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjan, from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to smash, break”). See also Old English becca (“pickax”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”), German picken (“to peck, pick at”), Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”); compare also German Low German bickern (“to nibble, gnaw”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɪkɚ/
- British English: /ˈbɪkə/