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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the phrase “to split hairs” come from and What does “split hairs” mean?

Where does the phrase “to split hairs” come from and What does “split hairs” mean?

April 26, 2020 by Karen Hill

The phrase “to split hairs” means: To quibble; to make fine distinctions; to cavil or become captious over trifles.

Thanks to the great degree of refinement in modern equipment, a hair may be split or divided lengthwise into numerous fine filaments.

In fact, not long since, we were told of a drill so fine that a series of minute holes could be bored transversely across a hair.

But in the seventeenth, the eighteenth, and even the nineteenth century it was still considered no more possible to split a hair than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

Hence, anyone arguing over trifles or quibbling about inconsequential matters was likened to anyone who would attempt to split a hair.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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