Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “morsel” come from?

Morsel comes from Middle English morsel, from Old French morsel, from Medieval Latin morsellum, from Latin morsum, the past participle of mordeo meaning to bite.

morsel (English): A small fragment or share of something, commonly...

Definitions

  1. A small fragment or share of something, commonly...

Ancestry of “morsel”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmorsel—
2Old Frenchmorselmorsel; bit; piece
3Medieval Latinmorselluma bit, a little piece; a small piece
4Latinmorsuma piece, bit; accusative singular of morsus
5Latinmorsusbitten, eaten, devoured, consumed, having been...
6Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
7Proto-Italic-tus—
8Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “morsel”

  • morselize
  • morselizer
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →