quibble

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   argue over petty things

   Let's not quibble over pennies.

Common collocations

• quibble over Verb + preposition/particle

Origin uncertain. Possibly from quib (“quibble”, noun) + -le (diminutive ending). Quib is probably from Latin quibus (“in what respect? how?”), which appeared frequently in legal documents and came to be suggestive of the verbosity and petty argumentation found therein; or perhaps an alteration of quip. Alternatively, perhaps related to dialectal Dutch kwebbelen (“to speak quickly and continuously, chatter”). Compare also Scots wheebele (“a quibble”).

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images