palaver
/pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.18 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Talk, especially unnecessary talk; chatter.
Canadian usage; American usage; Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Here we remained four days, on account of a palaver which was held on the following occasion."
- "That night the village warriors held a big palaver to celebrate their victories, and to choose a new chief."
- "Frances pulled his hair heartily, and then went and seated herself on her husband’s knee, and there they were, like two babies, kissing and talking nonsense by the hour—foolish palaver that we should be ashamed of."
- "These remarks were received with a differing demonstration: some of the company declaring that if the Dutchman cared to come round and smoke a pipe they would be glad to see him—perhaps he'd show where the thumbscrews had been put on; others being strongly of the opinion that they didn't want any more advice—they had already had advice enough to turn a donkey's stomach. What they wanted was to put forth their might without any more palaver; to do something, or for some one; to go out somewhere and smash something, on the spot—why not?—that very night."
- "Knowing full well the right time and the wrong time for a palaver of regret and disavowal, this battalion struggled in the desperation of despair."
- "Some of the palavers could take half a day."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Hellenic *pərai Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ́ (părắ) Ancient Greek παρα- (para-) Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der. Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō) Ancient Greek παραβάλλω (parabállō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ)bor. Late Latin parabola Old Galician-Portuguese paravla Old Galician-Portuguese palavra Portuguese palavrabor. English palaver Originally nautical slang, from Portuguese palavra (“word”), from Late Latin parabola (“parable, speech”). The term's use (especially in Africa) mimics the evolution of the word moot. As such, for sense development, see moot. Doublet of parable, parole, and parabola.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Archaic
- British usage
- Informal
- Intransitive verb