Prolonged and idle talk — tedious, time-wasting discussion or fuss, especially when it concerns something trivial.

From the Portuguese palavra, meaning word or speech, which itself comes from the Latin parabola — the same root as parable.

Entered English through contact between Portuguese traders and West African peoples in the eighteenth century, where palavers were formal negotiations or public discussions.

In West African English, palaver retains its original dignity as a serious meeting or formal negotiation, even as it has acquired dismissive connotations in British English.

The Palaver Tree, under which traditional negotiations were held in many West African cultures, is referenced in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart as a symbol of lost communal authority.