bicker B2 Topic:People & Society US /ˈbɪkɚ/ UK /ˈbɪkə/ See IPA manual Minimal pairs Sounds like vicar /v/ vs /b/ Sounds like beaker /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Meanings 1 verb to argue about petty and trivial matters The siblings would often bicker over who got the last cookie. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 verb · to argue about petty and... squabblequarrelspattiffwrangle More spar ↔ Opposites agreeconcur Etymology AI details Possibly from Middle Dutch bik- ('to slash, attack') + -er, giving bickeren ('to fight, quarrel'); adopted into Middle English bikeren (14th c., 'to quarrel, argue'). Topics People & Society External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # bicker **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** verb **IPA (US):** /ˈbɪkɚ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈbɪkə/ ## Meanings 1. to argue about petty and trivial matters ## Examples - The siblings would often bicker over who got the last cookie. ## Synonyms - squabble - quarrel - spat - tiff - wrangle - spar ## Antonyms - agree - concur ## Etymology Possibly from Middle Dutch bik- ('to slash, attack') + -er, giving bickeren ('to fight, quarrel'); adopted into Middle English bikeren (14th c., 'to quarrel, argue'). ## AI Etymology Bicker is traced through possibly from Middle Dutch bik- ('to slash, attack') + -er, giving bickeren ('to fight, quarrel'); adopted into Middle English bikeren (14th c., 'to quarrel, argue'). In current use it is a verb meaning "to argue about petty and trivial matters". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The uncertainty belongs to the etymology itself and should be kept: the older ancestry is not presented as more secure than it is. The safest dictionary treatment is to keep the secure forms and the uncertainty together, since the doubtful step is part of the word's history rather than a gap to fill by guesswork. ## Topics - People & Society markdown