morceau

English

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”).

morceau (plural morceaus or morceaux)

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

Inherited from Old French morsel (whence also English morsel), from Early 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”).

morceau m (plural morceaux)

morceau m (plural morceaux or morceaulx)