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 *(s)merd- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/, /mɔː(ɹ)ˈsəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

morceau (plural morceaus or morceaux)

1. A small bit; a morsel or snippet.
   • 1816, Henry Coxe, The Traveller's Guide in Switzerlan:

     M. De Luc has a specimen of the uranite (Peckblend) mixed with titan and crystals of quartz, a morceau of singular beauty

   • 1796, John Owen, Travels Into Different Parts of Europe […] :

     Amongſt a variety of urns, sepulchral fragments, and different morceaus of antiquity, are the known and celebrated buſts of Alexander the Great, and Brutus

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:modicum

References

• “morceau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited 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 *(s)merd- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔʁ.so/

• audio (un morceau)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -so

Noun

morceau m (plural morceaux)

1. piece, slice, bit, morsel
2. (music) piece, work

   manger le morceau ― to fess up, spill the beans

3. (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.

Middle French

Noun

morceau m (plural morceaux or morceaulx)

1. bit; piece