Carp

Word of the Day for Monday, March 19, 2012

carp \kahrp\, verb:

1. To find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably.

noun:
1. A peevish complaint.

She'd been carping about money lately – or not carping, but she'd inserted a few pointed remarks about pulling your own weight into the prolonged and intent silences that were her specialty – so he thought she'd be pleased.
-- Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

And knowing he could not touch her by persuasion, he carped at her and teased her like a schoolboy.
-- Anton Chekhov, "Excellent People," Chekhov's Doctors: A Collection of Chekhov's Medical Tales

Carp comes from the Old Norse word karpa which meant "to brag or haggle."

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/