chicoter

French

Etymology 1

From chicot (“stump, stub”) +‎ -er.

Verb

chicoter

1. (transitive) to cut away, to cut up

   Synonym: déchiqueter

2. (transitive, Louisiana) to nibble, to eat away, to erode
3. (transitive, Louisiana) to whittle
4. (transitive, Louisiana) to harass, to irritate

Conjugation

Conjugation of chicoter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chicoter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chicotant /ʃi.kɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chicoté /ʃi.kɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotes /ʃi.kɔt/	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotons /ʃi.kɔ.tɔ̃/	chicotez /ʃi.kɔ.te/	chicotent /ʃi.kɔt/
	imperfect	chicotais /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotais /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotait /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotions /ʃi.kɔ.tjɔ̃/	chicotiez /ʃi.kɔ.tje/	chicotaient /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	chicotai /ʃi.kɔ.te/	chicotas /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicota /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicotâmes /ʃi.kɔ.tam/	chicotâtes /ʃi.kɔ.tat/	chicotèrent /ʃi.kɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	chicoterai /ʃi.kɔ.tʁe/	chicoteras /ʃi.kɔ.tʁa/	chicotera /ʃi.kɔ.tʁa/	chicoterons /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɔ̃/	chicoterez /ʃi.kɔ.tʁe/	chicoteront /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chicoterais /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterais /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterait /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterions /ʃi.kɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	chicoteriez /ʃi.kɔ.tə.ʁje/	chicoteraient /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotes /ʃi.kɔt/	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotions /ʃi.kɔ.tjɔ̃/	chicotiez /ʃi.kɔ.tje/	chicotent /ʃi.kɔt/
	imperfect2	chicotasse /ʃi.kɔ.tas/	chicotasses /ʃi.kɔ.tas/	chicotât /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicotassions /ʃi.kɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	chicotassiez /ʃi.kɔ.ta.sje/	chicotassent /ʃi.kɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	—	chicotons /ʃi.kɔ.tɔ̃/	chicotez /ʃi.kɔ.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Etymology 2

Probably an alternation of chicaner with the pejorative suffix -oter.

Verb

chicoter

1. (dated, colloquial) to quibble, to squabble

   Synonym: chicaner

Conjugation

Conjugation of chicoter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chicoter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chicotant /ʃi.kɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chicoté /ʃi.kɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotes /ʃi.kɔt/	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotons /ʃi.kɔ.tɔ̃/	chicotez /ʃi.kɔ.te/	chicotent /ʃi.kɔt/
	imperfect	chicotais /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotais /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotait /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/	chicotions /ʃi.kɔ.tjɔ̃/	chicotiez /ʃi.kɔ.tje/	chicotaient /ʃi.kɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	chicotai /ʃi.kɔ.te/	chicotas /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicota /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicotâmes /ʃi.kɔ.tam/	chicotâtes /ʃi.kɔ.tat/	chicotèrent /ʃi.kɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	chicoterai /ʃi.kɔ.tʁe/	chicoteras /ʃi.kɔ.tʁa/	chicotera /ʃi.kɔ.tʁa/	chicoterons /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɔ̃/	chicoterez /ʃi.kɔ.tʁe/	chicoteront /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chicoterais /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterais /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterait /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/	chicoterions /ʃi.kɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	chicoteriez /ʃi.kɔ.tə.ʁje/	chicoteraient /ʃi.kɔ.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotes /ʃi.kɔt/	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	chicotions /ʃi.kɔ.tjɔ̃/	chicotiez /ʃi.kɔ.tje/	chicotent /ʃi.kɔt/
	imperfect2	chicotasse /ʃi.kɔ.tas/	chicotasses /ʃi.kɔ.tas/	chicotât /ʃi.kɔ.ta/	chicotassions /ʃi.kɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	chicotassiez /ʃi.kɔ.ta.sje/	chicotassent /ʃi.kɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chicote /ʃi.kɔt/	—	chicotons /ʃi.kɔ.tɔ̃/	chicotez /ʃi.kɔ.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “chicoter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)