Home › Glossary › Letter C

chaffer

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To bargain or haggle, especially over price—connoting persistent negotiation, sometimes with a tone of rustic or mercantile life.

Detailed Definition
“Chaffer” depicts mercantile negotiation, often with negative connotations of greed or pettiness. In pastoral or satirical poetry, it contrasts rustic simplicity with urban avarice. The term’s archaic flavor suits historical or moralizing contexts, where commerce corrupts purity. Its rhythmic bounce mimics the back-and-forth of trade, enriching scenes of market life or ethical compromise.
Example
Example in poetry:
"They chaffered over the price of bread while children starved," a social protest lyric; In Chaucer: "He chaffered long for silken thread"; "Chaffer not with fate," warns the oracle; Shakespeare’s merchants "chaffer" in Venice; "She chaffered with the devil for her soul," a dark ballad; Gold chaffers for all things, even virtue.
Additional Notes
“Chaffer” implies haggling with shrewdness or pettiness; in market scenes or satires of commerce, it underscores human greed or the commodification of relationships, especially in urban or mercantile poetic settings.
Also Known As
bargain haggle trade
Skip to main content