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, whence the English doublet 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.
   • 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

• morselization
• morselize
• Adam's morsel

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 f (troška), ронка f (ronka), парченце n (parčence), залак m (zalak)
• 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

a mouthful of food

• Esperanto: mordaĵo

Further reading

• “morsel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “morsel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “morsel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “morsel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Verb

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

• Merlos, Morels, morels, smoler

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.

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): /muɾˈsɛl/

Noun

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

• Middle French: morceau
  • French: morceau
    • → English: morceau
• Norman: morcé (Jersey, Guernsey)
• → Hungarian: morzsa
• → Middle English: morsel, morselle, morsille, morssel, morscel, morcelle, mursel
  • English: morsel
  • Yola: mossaale