different between haggle vs niggle

English

Etymology

1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of Middle English haggen (“to chop”), variant of hacken (“to hack”), equivalent to hack +? -le. Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?hæ??l/
• Rhymes: -æ??l

Verb

haggle (third-person singular simple present haggles, present participle haggling, simple past and past participle haggled)

1. (intransitive) To argue for a better deal, especially over prices with a seller.

2. (transitive) To hack (cut crudely)
   • 1599: William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 6

     Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, / Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped.

   • 1884: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VIII

     I catched a catfish and haggled him open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish for breakfast.

3. To stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.
   • June 30, 1784, Horace Walpole, letter to the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway

     Royalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.

Synonyms

• (to argue for a better deal): wrangle

Derived terms

• haggler

Translations

See also

• bargain
• negotiate

References

English

Etymology

First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hn?aw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n???l/
• Rhymes: -???l

Noun

niggle (plural niggles)

1. A minor complaint or problem.
   • 2012, The Guardian, London 2012: Christian Taylor aims high as Phillips Idowu stays away, by Anna Kessel

     The Olympic medal contender's back problem has been described as a "niggle" by the head coach, Charles van Commenee, but Porter's friend and former team-mate Danielle Carruthers revealed that the injury is playing on the Briton's mind.
2. (obsolete) Small, cramped handwriting.

Verb

niggle (third-person singular simple present niggles, present participle niggling, simple past and past participle niggled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To trifle with; to deceive; to mock.

   • I shall so feed your fierce vexation , And raise your worship ' s storms ; I shall so niggle you , And juggle you , and fiddle you , and firk you

2. (transitive) To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner.
3. (intransitive) To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details.
4. (intransitive, chiefly Britain) To fidget, fiddle, be restless.

Derived terms

• niggly

Translations

Anagrams

• egling, gingle, leggin, leging