morceau
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
Noun[edit]
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
Synonyms[edit]
References[edit]
- “morceau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
morceau m (plural morceaux)
- piece, slice, bit, morsel
- (music) piece, work
- manger le morceau ― to fess up, spill the beans
- (Quebec, slang) gun, piece
Derived terms[edit]
- 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[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “morceau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French[edit]
Noun[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)merd-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with quotations
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Early Medieval Latin
- French terms derived from Early Medieval Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- Rhymes:French/so
- Rhymes:French/so/2 syllables
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Music
- French terms with collocations
- Quebec French
- French slang
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns