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"making over-nice distinctions," by 1739, from hair + verbal noun from split (v.). To split hairs "make over-fine distinctions" is first recorded 1650s, as to cut the hair.

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12y ago

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Related Questions

What is the origin of the English idiom?

Each idiom has its own origins - you'll have to look up the etymology of every one separately.


What does the idiom splitting hairs mean?

Split Hairs - to argue about small, unimportant differences Origin: Shakespeare used this expression in the 1600s in one of his plays and "splitting hairs" has been widely used since.


What happens when the tips of your hairs start to split apart?

nothing it just means u have split ends and need to cut them off


What is the origin of the idiom split the whistle?

The correct idiom is "wet (not split) one's whistle," which means to take a drink, typically an alcoholic beverage. It dates back to the late 16th century and likens the throat to a whistle that needs to be moistened in order to properly produce sound.


What does the phrase split hairs mean?

This means that someone is being really picky about details - if you split a hair, you're making a really tiny half-hair, so the image is of the person being that picky to be sure that the tiny hairs are all in place.


What is the etymology of etymology?

The etymology of etymology is from the greek etumologia which means "true sense of a word"


Why are barbers so annoying this is a riddle?

1. Perhaps they are so hair brained. 2. They always like to split hairs.


What does the idiom heavy eyed mean?

at ugly stupid eyeswith hairs and fungi


Which mental disorder means split mind?

That would be schizophrenia.If you were to take a look at the etymology of the word, you'd find that it's in fact a contraction of two Greek words: schizein ("to split") and phren ("mind").So, the word schizophrenia could be somewhat literally translated as "split-mind."


Why does getting your hair trimed remove split ends. Because when you get it trimmed you only trim it on the top.?

Because it cuts of the damaged hairs


What is the opposite of etymology?

Etymology is the opposite of Antipodes


How do you tell if you have split ends?

the best way to tell if you have split ends is too take a section of your hair near the front and scan the ends of it. the hairs do actually split in 2 parts at the end sometimes even three so a visual check is the easiest way. xx