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To cavil is to complain about small, unnecessary points — to pick at details instead of dealing with the main thing. It is a formal, rather old-fashioned verb. You are more likely to read it than to hear it at the table: “I do not wish to cavil, but…” It can also be a noun: a cavil is one of those little objections. The everyday cousins are complain, nitpick, and find fault. Using cavil often makes the speaker sound careful, or a little superior; it can also be a polite way to say “this objection is tiny, but I will make it anyway.”
吹毛求疵、挑剔（偏書面；口語比較常說「挑毛病」）
組成From Old French caviller (to mock or jeer), from Latin cavillor (to jeer, mock, or argue in a captious way), from cavilla (jeering, scoffing). The noun grew inside English from the verb.
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
cavilverb/ˈkæv.əl/
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To criticise for petty or frivolous reasons.
- 'Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love.
- The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended, because I have named but one article.
cavilnoun/ˈkæv.əl/
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A petty or trivial objection or criticism.
- It is not worth while to spend your time in arguing against a cavil, but make him feel he is committing a sin to plead it, and thus enlist his conscience on your side.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。