Rate this phrase:5.0 / 1 vote

Split Hairs

To argue or being grumpy about trivial and unimportant differences

Etymology:

  • Famous playwright William Shakespeare in 17th century used similar kind of expression in one of his plays. Later the phrase “splitting hair” became much common. The expression describes that it is very difficult or almost impossible to split anything that is as thin as hair which means it is useless to argue about pointless or useless issues. Thus avoid to split hair because nothing good comes out of it rather it will waste your energy.
317 Views

The mother got fed up when the two sisters often split hairs in trivial matters.

Submitted on February 25, 2019

Additional definitions for 'Split Hairs':

split hairsTedious details; minutiae.
See them all »

Translation

Find a translation for the Split Hairs phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to Split Hairs

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this Split Hairs phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this Split Hairs definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Split Hairs." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/split-hairs_45046>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    It was a ________ run.
    A distant
    B quick
    C easy
    D home

    Browse Phrases.com