morsel

morsel

English

Etymology

From Middle English morsel, from Old French morsel, from Medieval Latin morsellum (“a bit, a little piece”), diminutive of Latin morsum (“a bit”), neuter of morsus, perfect passive participle of mordeo (“I bite”). Compare French morceau.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːsəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹsəl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)səl

Noun

morsel (plural morsels)

1. A small fragment or share of something, commonly applied to food.
   • 1979, Roald Dahl, The Twits:

     By sticking out his tongue and curling it sideways to explore the hairy jungle around his mouth, he was always able to find a tasty morsel here and there to nibble on.

2. A mouthful of food.
3. A very small amount.
   • 2008, Pamela Griffin, New York Brides, Barbour Publishing Inc., →ISBN, page 70:

     Didn't even a morsel of decency remain in his brother?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

• morselize, morselization

Related terms

• mordant
• remorse

Translations

small fragment

Arabic: قَطْمَة‎ f (qaṭma) Armenian: կտոր (hy) (ktor) Bulgarian: хапка (bg) f (hapka), залък (bg) m (zalǎk) Czech: sousto (cs) n, kousek (cs) m, kousíček m Danish: bid (da) c, godbid c, stump Dutch: brok (nl), hap (nl), stuk (nl) Finnish: murunen (fi), muru (fi), pala (fi) French: morceau (fr) m Galician: brisca f, nisco m, chisco (gl) m, lisco m, ciballo m, comanada f, argallo m, fronza f, grena f, rafa (gl) f, gorispa f German: Happen (de) m Greek: Ancient: ψωμός m (psōmós), βλωμός m (blōmós), ἄκολος f (ákolos) Italian: boccone (it) m Latin: frustum n, mīca (la) f Macedonian: трошка (tróška) f, ронка (rónka) f, парченце (párčence) n, залак (zálak) m Malay: cebis Maori: motū (refers only to food), whakapūwharu, horotai (of food) Persian: لقمه‎ (fa) (loqme), تیکه‎ (fa) (tikke) Portuguese: porção (pt) f, gota (pt) f, mordida (pt) f Russian: кусо́к (ru) m (kusók), по́рция (ru) f (pórcija) Spanish: pizca (es) f, porción (es) f, gota (es) f Swedish: smula (sv) m Turkish: dilim (tr) Volapük: beitil (vo) Yola: morsaale

Further reading

• morsel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• morsel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• “morsel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “morsel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Merlos, Morels, morels, smoler

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• morselle, morsille, morssel, morscel, morcelle, mursel

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French morsel, morsiel, morcel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔrsəl/

Noun

morsel (plural morsels)

1. small piece of food

Descendants

• English: morsel
• Yola: mossaale

References

• “morsel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

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Old French

Alternative forms

• morcel

Etymology

From Medieval Latin morsellum (“a bit, a little piece”), diminutive of Latin morsum (“a bit”), neuter of morsus, past participle of mordeō, mordēre (“bite, nibble, gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /murˈsɛl/

Noun

morsel m (oblique plural morseaus or morseax or morsiaus or morsiax or morsels, nominative singular morseaus or morseax or morsiaus or morsiax or morsels, nominative plural morsel)

1. morsel; bit; piece

Descendants

• English: morsel
• French: morceau
• Norman: morcé (Jersey, Guernsey)
• Hungarian: morzsa