Meanings
present singular third person haggles · participle present haggling · participle past haggled · past haggled
- intransitiveTo argue for a better deal, especially over prices between a buyer and seller.
I haggled for a better price because the original price was too high.
2 more examples
‘I am pretty useless at haggling. Haggling means asking the seller to sell stuff below the asking price.’
2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 184Last month, while officials from Washington and Beijing were haggling over whether to roll back tariffs that had brought their trade to a standstill, Chinese companies announced plans to invest about $4.7 billion in Brazil.
2025 June 20, Meaghan Tobin, “Chinese Companies Set Their Sights on Brazil”, in The New York Times - transitiveTo hack (cut crudely)
Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, / Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped.
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]1 more example
I catched a catfish and haggled him open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish for breakfast.
1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo argue for a better deal, especially over prices between a buyer and seller.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan instance of intense argument (as in bargaining)
verbwrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc.)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishhaggen“to chop”
- Englishhaggle
1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of Middle English haggen (“to chop”), variant of hacken (“to hack”), equivalent to hack + -le. Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَاوَمَ
- سَاوَمَ (sāwama)to argue for a better deal
Bulgarian пазаря́ се, заяждам се
- пазаря́ се (pazarjá se)to argue for a better deal
- заяждам се (zajaždam se)to stick at small matters
Catalan regatejar
- regatejarto argue for a better deal
Chinese Cantonese 殺價 /杀价
- 殺價 /杀价 (saat³ gaa³)to argue for a better deal
Chinese Mandarin 討價還價 /讨价还价, 計較 /计较
- 討價還價 /讨价还价 (tǎojià-huánjià)to argue for a better deal
- 計較 /计较 (jìjiào)to argue for a better deal
Czech smlouvat, handrkovat se
- smlouvatto argue for a better deal
- handrkovat seto argue for a better deal
- dohadovatto argue for a better deal
Danish prutte, købslå
- prutteto argue for a better deal
- købslåto argue for a better deal
Dutch afdingen, onderhandelen
- afdingento argue for a better deal
- onderhandelento argue for a better deal
Esperanto marĉandi
- marĉandito argue for a better deal
Estonian tingima
- tingimato argue for a better deal
Finnish tinkiä
- tinkiäto argue for a better deal
French marchander, chipoter
- marchanderto argue for a better deal
- chipoterto stick at small matters
German feilschen, markten
- feilschento argue for a better deal
- marktento argue for a better deal
- schachernto argue for a better deal
Greek διαπραγματεύομαι, παζαρεύω
- διαπραγματεύομαι (diapragmatévomai)to argue for a better deal
- παζαρεύω (pazarévo)to argue for a better deal
Hungarian alkudozik
- alkudozikto argue for a better deal
Icelandic prútta
- prúttato argue for a better deal
Indonesian tawar
- tawarto argue for a better deal
Italian contrattare, tirare sul prezzo
- contrattareto argue for a better deal
- tirare sul prezzoto argue for a better deal
- mercanteggiareto argue for a better deal
Japanese 値切る, 〔値段などで〕押し問答する
- 値切る (negiru)to argue for a better deal
- 〔値段などで〕押し問答する (oshimondō suru)to argue for a better deal
Korean 깎다
- 깎다 (kkakda)to argue for a better deal
Lithuanian leistis į smulkmenas
- leistis į smulkmenasto stick at small matters
Malay tawar-menawar
- tawar-menawarto argue for a better deal
Norwegian Bokmål prute
- pruteto argue for a better deal
Polish targować się
- targować sięto argue for a better deal
Portuguese pechinchar, regatear
- pechincharto argue for a better deal
- regatearto argue for a better deal
- barganharto argue for a better deal
Romanian tocmi, negocia
- tocmito argue for a better deal
- negociato argue for a better deal
- târguito argue for a better deal
- neguțato argue for a better deal
- țigănito argue for a better deal
Russian торгова́ться
- торгова́ться (torgovátʹsja)to argue for a better deal
Spanish recatear, regatear
- recatearto argue for a better deal
- regatearto argue for a better deal
- detenerse en pequeñecesto stick at small matters
Swedish pruta, köpslå
- prutato argue for a better deal
- köpslåto argue for a better deal
Tamil பேரம் பேசு
- பேரம் பேசு (pēram pēcu)to argue for a better deal
Thai ต่อรอง
- ต่อรอง (dtɔ̀ɔ-rɔɔng)to argue for a better deal
Turkish pazarlık etmek, pazarlık yapmak
- pazarlık etmekto argue for a better deal
- pazarlık yapmakto argue for a better deal
Ukrainian торгува́тися
- торгува́тися (torhuvátysja)to argue for a better deal
Vietnamese mặc cả
- mặc cảto argue for a better deal
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with haggle
All rhymes →Cite this entry
haggle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haggle
“haggle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haggle. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haggle,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haggle.
Source: haggle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.