# bicker

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈbɪkɚ/ · frequency rank #49,220

## Definitions
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.

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

## Easily confused with
- **bike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bike)
- **biker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-biker)
- **biter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-biter)
- **bigger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bigger)
- **bitter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bitter)
- **bucket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bucket)
- **broker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-broker)
- **Bieber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bieber)
- **bunker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bunker)
- **booker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-booker)
- **bidder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-bidder)
- **binder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-binder)
- **blocker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-blocker)
- **blacker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-blacker)
- **Buckner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicker-vs-buckner)
- **baker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/baker-vs-bicker)
- **bicep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bicep-vs-bicker)
- **backed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/backed-vs-bicker)
- **banker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/banker-vs-bicker)
- **barker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/barker-vs-bicker)

## Common misspellings (9)
`bbicker`, `bciker`, `biccker`, `bicekr`, `bickerr`, `bickker`, `bickre`, `bikcer`, `ibcker`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bicker