To argue noisily over petty matters; to engage in a trivial or noisy quarrel. A minor dispute or disagreement.
First recorded in the 1640s, possibly of imitative origin, echoing the sound of noisy argument. May be related to Swedish dialect skvabbel meaning 'dispute' or connected to squab (young bird), suggesting the chattering of young birds fighting.
The word 'squabble' perfectly captures the essence of petty arguments through its very sound - the 'skw' beginning mimics the harsh, grating quality of pointless disputes. Linguistically, it belongs to a family of 'skw-' words (squawk, squall, squeal) that often represent unpleasant or chaotic sounds, showing how our language evolved to make the sound match the meaning.
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