chipoter

French

Etymology

From Old French chipe (“bit, scrap”) +‎ -oter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.pɔ.te/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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Verb

chipoter

1. (ambitransitive) to nibble
2. (ambitransitive) to quibble, haggle
   • 2018, Constance Debré, chapter 3, in Play boy, Paris: Stock, →ISBN, part 3, page 146:

     Est-ce du bonheur ou de l'ennui, de la consolation ou une tristesse ? Je ne pense rien, je ne nomme rien. Elle m'approuve, je ne chipote pas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of chipoter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	chipoter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	chipotant /ʃi.pɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		chipoté /ʃi.pɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	chipote /ʃi.pɔt/	chipotes /ʃi.pɔt/	chipote /ʃi.pɔt/	chipotons /ʃi.pɔ.tɔ̃/	chipotez /ʃi.pɔ.te/	chipotent /ʃi.pɔt/
	imperfect	chipotais /ʃi.pɔ.tɛ/	chipotais /ʃi.pɔ.tɛ/	chipotait /ʃi.pɔ.tɛ/	chipotions /ʃi.pɔ.tjɔ̃/	chipotiez /ʃi.pɔ.tje/	chipotaient /ʃi.pɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	chipotai /ʃi.pɔ.te/	chipotas /ʃi.pɔ.ta/	chipota /ʃi.pɔ.ta/	chipotâmes /ʃi.pɔ.tam/	chipotâtes /ʃi.pɔ.tat/	chipotèrent /ʃi.pɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	chipoterai /ʃi.pɔ.tʁe/	chipoteras /ʃi.pɔ.tʁa/	chipotera /ʃi.pɔ.tʁa/	chipoterons /ʃi.pɔ.tʁɔ̃/	chipoterez /ʃi.pɔ.tʁe/	chipoteront /ʃi.pɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	chipoterais /ʃi.pɔ.tʁɛ/	chipoterais /ʃi.pɔ.tʁɛ/	chipoterait /ʃi.pɔ.tʁɛ/	chipoterions /ʃi.pɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	chipoteriez /ʃi.pɔ.tə.ʁje/	chipoteraient /ʃi.pɔ.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	chipote /ʃi.pɔt/	chipotes /ʃi.pɔt/	chipote /ʃi.pɔt/	chipotions /ʃi.pɔ.tjɔ̃/	chipotiez /ʃi.pɔ.tje/	chipotent /ʃi.pɔt/
	imperfect2	chipotasse /ʃi.pɔ.tas/	chipotasses /ʃi.pɔ.tas/	chipotât /ʃi.pɔ.ta/	chipotassions /ʃi.pɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	chipotassiez /ʃi.pɔ.ta.sje/	chipotassent /ʃi.pɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	chipote /ʃi.pɔt/	—	chipotons /ʃi.pɔ.tɔ̃/	chipotez /ʃi.pɔ.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).

Derived terms

• chipoteur

Further reading

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