This article is about physical nitpicking, for the sport, see Nitpicking (sport).

Nitpicking is the act of removing nits (the eggs of lice, though in this case specifically head lice) from one's hair. The original way of treating a person for head lice was to remove each nit one at a time from the hair. This was a slow and meticulous process, and new methods that take less time have been developed in more recent times.

In modern times, the word isn't widely used in the sense of removing head lice anymore, but rather refers to unjustified criticism that is very meticulous.