chicaner

English

Etymology

Compare French chicaneur.

Noun

chicaner (plural chicaners)

1. One who uses chicanery.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

     distinguish the two most different things I know in the world , a logical chicaner from a man of reason

References

• “chicaner”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• chancier

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French chicaner, from Middle Low German schicken, from Old Saxon *skikkian, from Proto-West Germanic *skikkijan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skikkijaną (“to order, arrange”), the selfsame origin of modern French chic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.ka.ne/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

chicaner

1. (transitive) to get (someone) into an argument
2. (reflexive, reciprocal) to quibble, squabble (to complain or argue in a trivial or petty manner)

   C'est inutile de se chicaner.

   It's pointless to squabble.

   Mais pourquoi est-ce que vous vous chicanez ?

   Just why are you bickering?

Conjugation

Conjugation of chicaner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chicaner
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chicanant /ʃi.ka.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chicané /ʃi.ka.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chicane /ʃi.kan/	chicanes /ʃi.kan/	chicane /ʃi.kan/	chicanons /ʃi.ka.nɔ̃/	chicanez /ʃi.ka.ne/	chicanent /ʃi.kan/
	imperfect	chicanais /ʃi.ka.nɛ/	chicanais /ʃi.ka.nɛ/	chicanait /ʃi.ka.nɛ/	chicanions /ʃi.ka.njɔ̃/	chicaniez /ʃi.ka.nje/	chicanaient /ʃi.ka.nɛ/
	past historic2	chicanai /ʃi.ka.ne/	chicanas /ʃi.ka.na/	chicana /ʃi.ka.na/	chicanâmes /ʃi.ka.nam/	chicanâtes /ʃi.ka.nat/	chicanèrent /ʃi.ka.nɛʁ/
	future	chicanerai /ʃi.kan.ʁe/	chicaneras /ʃi.kan.ʁa/	chicanera /ʃi.kan.ʁa/	chicanerons /ʃi.kan.ʁɔ̃/	chicanerez /ʃi.kan.ʁe/	chicaneront /ʃi.kan.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chicanerais /ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	chicanerais /ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	chicanerait /ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	chicanerions /ʃi.ka.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	chicaneriez /ʃi.ka.nə.ʁje/	chicaneraient /ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/
(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	chicane /ʃi.kan/	chicanes /ʃi.kan/	chicane /ʃi.kan/	chicanions /ʃi.ka.njɔ̃/	chicaniez /ʃi.ka.nje/	chicanent /ʃi.kan/
	imperfect2	chicanasse /ʃi.ka.nas/	chicanasses /ʃi.ka.nas/	chicanât /ʃi.ka.na/	chicanassions /ʃi.ka.na.sjɔ̃/	chicanassiez /ʃi.ka.na.sje/	chicanassent /ʃi.ka.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chicane /ʃi.kan/	—	chicanons /ʃi.ka.nɔ̃/	chicanez /ʃi.ka.ne/	—
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).

Conjugation of se chicaner (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se chicaner
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se chicanant /sə ʃi.ka.nɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		chicané /ʃi.ka.ne/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me chicane /mə ʃi.kan/	te chicanes /tə ʃi.kan/	se chicane /sə ʃi.kan/	nous chicanons /nu ʃi.ka.nɔ̃/	vous chicanez /vu ʃi.ka.ne/	se chicanent /sə ʃi.kan/
	imperfect	me chicanais /mə ʃi.ka.nɛ/	te chicanais /tə ʃi.ka.nɛ/	se chicanait /sə ʃi.ka.nɛ/	nous chicanions /nu ʃi.ka.njɔ̃/	vous chicaniez /vu ʃi.ka.nje/	se chicanaient /sə ʃi.ka.nɛ/
	past historic2	me chicanai /mə ʃi.ka.ne/	te chicanas /tə ʃi.ka.na/	se chicana /sə ʃi.ka.na/	nous chicanâmes /nu ʃi.ka.nam/	vous chicanâtes /vu ʃi.ka.nat/	se chicanèrent /sə ʃi.ka.nɛʁ/
	future	me chicanerai /mə ʃi.kan.ʁe/	te chicaneras /tə ʃi.kan.ʁa/	se chicanera /sə ʃi.kan.ʁa/	nous chicanerons /nu ʃi.kan.ʁɔ̃/	vous chicanerez /vu ʃi.kan.ʁe/	se chicaneront /sə ʃi.kan.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me chicanerais /mə ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	te chicanerais /tə ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	se chicanerait /sə ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/	nous chicanerions /nu ʃi.ka.nə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous chicaneriez /vu ʃi.ka.nə.ʁje/	se chicaneraient /sə ʃi.kan.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me chicane /mə ʃi.kan/	te chicanes /tə ʃi.kan/	se chicane /sə ʃi.kan/	nous chicanions /nu ʃi.ka.njɔ̃/	vous chicaniez /vu ʃi.ka.nje/	se chicanent /sə ʃi.kan/
	imperfect2	me chicanasse /mə ʃi.ka.nas/	te chicanasses /tə ʃi.ka.nas/	se chicanât /sə ʃi.ka.na/	nous chicanassions /nu ʃi.ka.na.sjɔ̃/	vous chicanassiez /vu ʃi.ka.na.sje/	se chicanassent /sə ʃi.ka.nas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chicane-toi /ʃi.kan.twa/	—	chicanons-nous /ʃi.ka.nɔ̃.nu/	chicanez-vous /ʃi.ka.ne.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + 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).

Derived terms

• chicanier
• chicanerie

Further reading

• “chicaner”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012