A badger is a small, sturdy mammal with short legs, a striped face, and strong claws for digging. As a verb, to badger someone means to bother or annoy them by asking again and again.
Probably from earlier “bageard,” related to “badge,” referring to the animal’s marked face, like it wears a badge. The verb sense grew from the idea of a persistent, digging creature.
When you badger a person, you’re treating them like soil you keep digging into, just like the animal does. The language quietly turns an animal’s lifestyle into a picture of human nagging.
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