Dicker

Dicker is a verb meaning to bargain or haggle over the price of something; to bargain persistently or to negotiate terms in a way that may seem petty or tedious. In everyday usage, people dicker with sellers, agents, or buyers over price, terms, or conditions of a deal. The act can be light-hearted or contentious, depending on tone and context. Phrases include "dicker over the price" or "dicker about the terms." The word is informal and somewhat old-fashioned, more common in American English in earlier periods, but it remains understood in contemporary usage.

As a noun, dicker is rare and dialectal at best; most speakers would use "haggle" or "negotiate" if needed, and "dicker" is seldom appropriate as a stand-alone noun.

Etymology is uncertain; the word appears in English from the 16th century and is thought to be of Germanic or Dutch influence, aligning with related terms for bargaining across northern European languages. In modern contexts, dicker is generally used to describe routine consumer bargaining rather than high-stakes negotiations, and is often confined to informal conversation, fiction, or diary narrative. Related terms include haggle, barter, bargain, and negotiate.