dicker

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 8, 2024 is: dicker \DIK-er\ verb To dicker is to talk or argue with someone about the conditions of a purchase, agreement, or contract. // My favorite thing about flea markets is dickering over prices. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dicker) Examples: “They haggled and dickered and bargained through a good number of dealerships.” — Terry Woster, Tri-State Neighbor (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), 7 Dec. 2023 Did you know? The origins of the verb dicker likely lie in an older dicker, the noun referring to a quantity of ten animal hides or skins. The idea is that the verb arose from the bartering of, and haggling over, animal hides on the [American frontier](https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-frontier). The noun dicker comes from decuria, the Latin word for a bundle of ten hides, and ultimately from the Latin word decem, meaning "ten." The word entered Middle English as dyker and by the 14th century had evolved to dicker.