Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Morsel |
MorselNoun1. A small quantity of anything; "a morsel of paper was all he needed". 2. A small amount of solid food; a mouthful; "all they had left was a bit of bread". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "morsel" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Morsel \Mor"sel\, noun. [Old French expression morsel, French morceau, Late Latin expression morsellus, diminutive from Latin morsus biting, bite, from mordere to bite; probably akin to English smart. See Smart, and compare to Morceau, Mordant, Muse, verb, Muzzle, noun.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: MorselSynonyms: bit (n), bite (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Food | Mouthful, bolus, gobbet, morsel, sop, sippet. |
Part | Piece, lump, bit cut, cutting; chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale; lamina; small part; morsel, particle; (smallness); installment, dividend; share; (allotment). |
Savoriness | Tidbit, titbit, dainty, delicacy, tasty morsel; appetizer, hors d'ouvres; ambrosia, nectar, bonne-bouche; game, turtle, venison; delicatessen. |
Smallness | Small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum; vanishing point; material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace; minutiae, details; look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow; spark, scintilla, gleam; touch, cast; grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture; inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive; snip, snippet; snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag; chip, chipping; shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Morsel |
| English words defined with "morsel": Bonne bouche, Bonnes bouches ♦ Corsned ♦ Ort ♦ Sucket. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "morsel": JONAH ♦ Quid of Tobacco ♦ SANDWICH. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "morsel": Bittock, Bolus ♦ Micella, mordacious. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I warn you, brother - as my stature has grown, so it is matched by my appetite step forward, morsel! (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver; writing credit: Amy Hennig) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Author | Quotation |
Charlotte Bronte | Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | * As if the informer seized a bit of the substance of all, and fed upon a morsel of the flesh of each. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Morsel" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Morsel" is used about 95 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 95 | 33,629 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "morsel": choice morsel ♦ dainty morsel ♦ morsel of comfort. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
morsel | 20 |
morsel sushi | 2 |
butterscotch cookie morsel | 2 |
butterscotch morsel | 2 |
chocolate morsel | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "morsel"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | hap (mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | llokmë (chunk, piece), kafshatë (mouthful), copë (chunk, excerpt, fraction, fragment, fritter, hunk, knob, loaf, lump, mammock, nub, partition, piece, rag, scrap, scrap metal, section, segment, shiver, shred, sliver, snip, snippet, splint, tatter). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كسرة (bit, crumb, fraction, fragment, scrap, small piece), مضغة (bit, bite, chew, quid), لقمة (bit, bite, mouthful), قلة (dearth, few, jar, lack, paucity, rareness, scarceness, shortage), قسم إلى أجزاء صغيرة, وزع بماقدير صغيرة, شخص تافه (bauble, black sheep, bugger, crumb, deformity, dog, insect, myrmidon, nitwit, peanut, pipsqueak, rag, sprat, swab, toad, trash). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | хапка (mouthful, nibble, nip, taste, tidbit, titbit), късче (bit, cantlet, scrap, shred, taste), къс (brief, cob, fraction, fragment, fritter, jimp, length, little, patch, piece, portion, scrimpy, short, skimpy, slip, slipping), залък, дребен човек (pygmy, runt, scrub). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 少量 (fewest, groat, groats, Pinch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | sousto (bite, mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | skinkeinderlår (morsel in ham). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | mondvol (mouthful), hap (bite, mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | mordpeco, buŝpleno (mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | یک لقمه غذا, مقدارکم (Modicum, Smidgen, Snatch, Spatter), لقمه کردن , لقمه (Bit, Snap), تکه (Bit, Dab, Fragment, Glimmer, Gob, Goblet, Item, Loaf, Lot, Lump, Nub, Pane, Patch, Portion, Scrap, Shiver, Shred, Slab, Slice, Smidgen, Whit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | suupala (bite). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | morceau, bout, bouchée (mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | bissen (bit, bite, mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κομματάκι (fragment, scrap, shred), μπούκλα (curl, ringlet), τεμάχιο (fragment, parcel, piece, scrap, segment, snatch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | שמץ (grain, iota, jot, mite, modicum, odor, odour, particle, pinch, shade, shred, soupcon, sprinkling, suspicion, syllable, tincture, trace, whit), פת (bread, crumb), פרוס" (piece, slice, sliver), חתיכ" (attractive girl, cut, part, piece, slice). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | morzsa (crumb, the crumb of the loaf), falat (bit, bite, chaw, junk, mouthful, nibble, swallow, tiny bit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | sesuap (mouthful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | boccone (bit, bite, gulp, mouthful, swallow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 口塞ぎ (imposition of silence, prohibition of speaking, tiny morsel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | くちふさぎ (imposition of silence, prohibition of speaking, tiny morsel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | sleig (any small bit, fragment, minute fraction), kyneen (crumb), greim (bit, bite, catch, clutch, commissure, gobbet, grab, grasp, grip, handhold, hold, monopolize, piece, snap, snatch, tack, tack needlework). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | orselmay bocado (bit, bite, cantle, chip, dollop, fragment, gob, gobbet, lump, mouthful, piece, portion, scrap, shiver, slice, smack, snatch, snip, sprinkle). (various references) zero (cipher, duck's, love, naught, nil, nobody, nothing, nought, null, zero), nimic (anything, bauble, fillip, flea-bite, naught, negation, nil, nonentity, nothing, nothingness, nought, stiver, trifle), fãrâmã (atom, bit, chip, crumb, element, fleck, fragment, particle, scrap, smithereens, speck, whit), dumicat (mouthful), bucatã micã (bit), bucatã (article, bar, brick, clod, cut, dollop, fragment, hunk, junk, length, nub, part, Pat, patch, piece, ribbon, shred, slice, snack, steak, tablet), bucãţicã (bit, knob, mouthful, rap, speckle, whit), îmbucãturã (bite, gob, gobbet, joggle, mouthful). (various references) кусочек (bit, cantlet, nub, nubble, tasting, wad). (various references) sgraideag (small morsel). (various references) zalogaj (bite, mouthful, nibble, toothful), komadić (bit, pat, scrap, tiny bit). (various references) pedazo (bit, Cantel, chunk, end, hunk, lieu, lump, nub, piece, spare part, wedge), fragmento (chip, fragment, shiver, shred, wisp), bocado (bar, bit, bite, dainty, kickback, mouthful, nibble). (various references) smula (atom, crumb, Dot, dribblet, fragment, modicum, pittance, scantling, scraps, shade, sprinkle, tot), munsbit (nibble), bit (bit, Cantel, Cantle, chip, cob, cutting, fragment, joint, lump, mouthful, piece, scrap, section, stick, tablet). (various references) parça (attachment, batch, bit, cake, Cantle, component, cut, dribblet, driblet, fraction, fragment, gobbet, item, lump, moiety, part, passage, patch, piece, portion, scrap, segment, shred, snatch, tool), lokma (bit, bite, chew, gobbet, gulp, mouthful). (various references) tike (bit, piece). (various references) смачна страва, шматочок (nub, nubble, scrap, sop), легка закуска (snack). (various references) miếng (cantle, crumb, piece, sliver), mấu (apophysis). (various references) tamaid (bit, bite). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | buccella, buccellam, buccellas, frusta, mica, morsus. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | morsel. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 23, Verse 8 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Mhde proV se eisagaghV auton kai faghV ton ywmon sou met' autou exemesei gar auton kai lumaneitai touV logouV sou touV kalouV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Cibos quos comederas evomes et perdes pulchros sermones tuos |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | The metes that thou hast eten, thou shalt spewen out; and thou shalt leesen thi faire wrdis. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 23, Verse 8 |
| Croatian | Zalogaj koji si pojeo izbljuvat æeš, uzalud æeš prosut' svoje ljupke rijeèi. |
| Danish | Den Bid, du har spist, må du udspy, du spilder dine fagre Ord. |
| Dutch | Uw bete, die gij gegeten hebt, zoudt gij uitspuwen; en gij zoudt uw liefelijke woorden verderven. |
| Finnish | Syömäsi palan sinä olet oksentava, ja suloiset sanasi sinä tuhlasit turhaan. |
| French | Tu vomiras le morceau que tu as mangé, Et tu auras perdu tes propos agréables. |
| German | Deine Bissen die du gegessen hattest, mußt du ausspeien, und mußt deine freundlichen Worte verloren haben. |
| Hungarian | A te falatodat, a melyet megettél, kihányod; és a te ékes beszédidet csak hiába vesztegeted. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Nanti apa yang sudah kautelan kaumuntahkan kembali, dan semua kata-katamu yang manis kepadanya tak ada gunanya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Bahwa suap yang telah kautelan itu, niscaya kaumuntahkan pula kelak, dan segala perkataanmu yang manis-manis itu telah kaubuang bagi kebinasaanmu sendiri. |
| Italian | Il boccone che hai mangiato rigetterai e avrai sprecato le tue parole gentili. |
| Maori | Ko te kongakonga i kainga e koe, ka ruakina e koe, ka maumauria ano hoki au kupu reka. |
| Norwegian | Den matbit som du har ett, den vil du spy ut, og du har spilt dine vakre ord. |
| Portuguese | Vomitarás o bocado que comeste, e perderás as tuas suaves palavras. |
| Rumanian | Bucata pe care ai mkncat -o, o vei vqrsa, wi cuvintele plqcute pe cari le vei spune, sknt perdute. |
| Russian | лХУПЛ, ЛПФПТЩК ФЩ УЯЕМ, ЙЪ'МАЕЫШ, Й "П'ТЩЕ УМПЧБ ФЧПЙ ФЩ ПФТБФЙЫШ ОБ ТБУОП. |
| Spanish | Vomitarás tu parte que comiste y echarás a perder tus suaves palabras. |
| Swedish | Den bit du har ätit måste du utspy, och dina vänliga ord har du förspillt. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "morsel": morseled, morseling, morselled, morselling, morsels. (additional references) | |
Words containing "morsel": remorseless, remorselessly, remorselessness, remorselessnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Morsel" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Horswell, Maisel, marsall, marsei, marsel, Marsey, Marsili, Mersault, mesel, Mirsal, misel, misrel, Monsell, moorse, Moorsee, morcel, morcle, morell, morese, moreso, Morfeld, Morkel, morles, morlse, Morrsleib, Morsa, morsal, Morses, Morsey, Morso, morvel, Morwell, Morysse, morze, morzem, mosely, mosflm, Mosle, mosre, Moussel, mumsel, munsel, Munsell, Murasoli, mursi, Mursley, murzuk, norsal, Orseolo, oursel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "morsel" (pronounced mô"rsul) |
| 5 | -ô" r s u l | dorsal. |
| 4 | -r s u l | parcel. |
| 3 | -s u l | antimissile, apostle, Axel, axle, basal, brasil, bristle, bustle, cancel, capsule, Castle, colossal, consul, council, counsel, diesel, dismissal, dispersal, docile, epistle, facile, fissile, fossil, gracile, gristle, Hansel, Hassel, hassle, housel, hustle, imbecile, jostle, microfossil, missal, missel, missile, mucosal, muscle, mussel, Nestle, Passel, pencil, pixel, Proconsul, rehearsal, reversal, rustle, stencil, tassel, Tattersall, tensile, Tercel, Thistle, tinsel, tonsil, Tressel, trestle, tussle, universal, unsell, utensil, vassal, vessel, whistle, wrestle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: morels. | |
| Words within the letters "e-l-m-o-r-s" | |
-1 letter: lores, loser, merls, moles, morel, mores, morse, omers, orles, roles, sorel. | |
-2 letters: elms, eros, lore, lose, mels, merl, mole, mols, more, mors, oles, omer, ores, orle, rems, roes, role, roms, rose, sloe, sole, some, sore. | |
-3 letters: elm, els, ems, ers, mel, mol, mor, mos, oes, ole, oms, ore, ors, ose, rem, res, roe. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-l-m-o-r-s" | |
+1 letter: cormels, merlons, merlots, moilers, molders, molters, morales, morsels, remolds, smolder. | |
+2 letters: almoners, armholes, bloomers, earldoms, eelworms, embroils, formless, gomerals, gomerels, gomerils, gormless, implores, larksome, legrooms, lorimers, misenrol, modelers, molester, mongrels, moralise, morelles, morellos, morosely, morseled, mottlers, moulders, moulters, normless, polymers, premolds, problems, ramosely, rampoles, ramulose, reblooms, remodels, removals, rimosely, saleroom, scleroma, smolders, smoulder, solemner, somberly, sombrely, temblors, tremolos, trommels. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 6F 72 73 65 6C |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references)-- --- .-. ... . .-.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01101111 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M o r s e l |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 006F 0072 0073 0065 006C |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)478184857178 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Bible Trace | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
