ergoter
French, verb/ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/
ergoter is spelled E-R-G-O-T-E-R (7 letters) and appears about once in every 10 million words in written French, the 103,520th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ergoter is a French verb meaning “to quibble; to argue; to contest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Se dresser sur ses ergots ; utiliser ses ergots, en parlant d'un coq”.
What does ergoter mean in English?
verb
- 1
to quibble; to argue; to contest
- 2
to prune a tree or plant
- 3
to scratch with the dewclaw (spur)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Se dresser sur ses ergots ; utiliser ses ergots, en parlant d'un coq. 2. Débarrasser un arbre fruitier de ses ergots. 3. Se faire contaminer par l'ergot.
verb: 1. S’attarder sur des détails sans intérêt ; argumenter avec des précisions superflues ou de façon mesquine.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of ergoter
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- ergotant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- ergoté participle past
- ergote first-person indicative present
- ergotes indicative present second-person
- ergotons first-person indicative plural
- ergotez indicative plural present
- ergotent indicative plural present
- ergotais first-person imperfect indicative
- ergotait imperfect indicative singular
- ergotions first-person imperfect indicative
- ergotiez imperfect indicative plural
- ergotaient imperfect indicative plural
- ergotai first-person historic indicative
- ergotas historic indicative past
- ergota historic indicative past
- ergotâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce ergoter?
- /ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te/
- \ɛʁ.ɡɔ.te\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to ergoter
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ergoter in French?
ergoter appears about once in every 10 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).