morceau

English

Etymology

From French morceau, from Old French morsel, 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 *merə- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Noun

morceau (plural morceaus or morceaux)

1. A bit; a morsel.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “morceau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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French

Etymology

From Old French morsel (whence also English morsel), 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 *merə- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔʁ.so/

• audio (un morceau):

  (file)

Noun

morceau m (plural morceaux)

1. piece, slice, bit, morsel
2. (Quebec, slang) gun, piece

Derived terms

• emporter le morceau
• en morceaux
• en mille morceaux
• en un seul morceau
• cracher le morceau
• lâcher le morceau
• manger un morceau
• recoller les morceaux
• (piece): mcx (abbreviation)

Related terms

• morceler
• morcellement
• mordre
• mors
• morsel
• morsure

Further reading

• “morceau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Noun

morceau m (plural morceaux or morceaulx)

1. bit; piece