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, past participle of mordere (“to 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. (2008), →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)
• 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
• 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, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
• “morsel” in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press.
• “morsel” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.

Anagrams

• Merlos, Morels, morels, smoler

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔr.ˈsɛl/

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)