Words at Play : Top 10 Rare & Amusing Insults
#9: Pettifogger
Definition:
shyster; a lawyer whose methods are underhanded or disreputable
About the word:
The petti part of this word comes from petty, meaning "insignificant" (from the French petit, "small").
As for fogger, it once meant "lawyer" in English. According to one theory, it may come from "Fugger," the name of a successful family of 15th- and 16th-century German merchants and financiers. Germanic variations of "fugger" were used for the wealthy and avaricious, as well as for hucksters.