bicker

Meaning

Verb

1. To quarrel in a tiresome, insulting manner.
2. To brawl or move tremulously, quiver, shimmer (of a water stream, light, flame, etc.)
3. To patter.
4. To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight.

Noun

1. A skirmish; an encounter.
2. (obsolete) A fight with stones between two parties of boys.
3. A wrangle; also, a noise, as in angry contention.
4. The process by which selective eating clubs at Princeton University choose new members.

Noun

A wooden drinking-cup or other dish.

Synonyms

squabble

quarrel

wrangle

argue

dispute

spat

quibble

niggle

jangle

bickering

brabble

brawl

fight

altercate

pettifog

haggle

disagree

contend

row

scrap

tiff

pettifoggery

fuss

resist

in a rage

scold

nit-pick

skirmish

spar

sparring

complain

badger

🦡

strive

struggle

fracas

polemicize

jar

🫙

nag

equivocate

have a row

wisecrack

attack

👊

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɪkɚ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bikeren

Cognate with Old English: becca

Cognate with Dutch: bikken

Cognate with German: picken

Cognate with Old Norse: bikkja

In summary

From Middle English bikeren (“to attack”), from Middle Dutch bicken (“to stab, thrust, attack”) + -er (frequentative suffix), from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną (compare Old English becca (“pickax”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”), German picken (“to peck, pick at”), Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to smash, break”). Compare also German Low German bickern (“to nibble, gnaw”).