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Wiktionary

morsel

English

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Etymology

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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, whence the English doublet morceau.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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.
    • 1644, James Howell, England’s Teares, for the Present Wars, […], London: […] Richard Heron, →OCLC, page 4:
      Me thinks I ſee the Turke nodding vvith his Turban, and telling me that I ſhould thanke Heaven for that diſtance vvhich is betvvixt us, els he vvould ſvvallovv me all up at one morſell; […]
  3. A very small amount.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum
    • 2008, Pamela Griffin, New York Brides, Barbour Publishing, →ISBN, page 70:
      Didn't even a morsel of decency remain in his brother?

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Verb

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morsel (third-person singular simple present morsels, present participle morseling or morselling, simple past and past participle morseled or morselled)

  1. (transitive) To divide into small pieces.
    Synonym: morselize
  2. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To feed with small pieces of food.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Old French morsel, morsiel, morcel.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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morsel (plural morsels)

  1. small piece of food

Descendants

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  • English: morsel
  • Yola: mossaale

References

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Old French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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morsel oblique singular, 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

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