Etymograph

English

morceau

Morceau comes from French morceau ‘piece, slice, bit, morsel’, from Latin mordēre ‘bite, nibble, gnaw’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- ‘to rub, wipe’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)merd-1‘to rub, wipe’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmordēre1‘bite, nibble, gnaw’next step skipped: Latin morsus
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorsum1‘a bit’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500morsellum1‘a bit, a little piece’diminutive of morsum
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400morsel1
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600morceau2
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentmorceau1‘piece, slice, bit, morsel’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1796morceau1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English morceau
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French morceau
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1796, John Owen: “Amongſt a variety of urns, sepulchral fragments, and different…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)merd-Wiktionary, English morceau‘to rub, wipe’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmordēreWiktionary, English morceau‘bite, nibble, gnaw’next step skipped: Latin morsus
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorsumWiktionary, English morceau‘a bit’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500morsellumWiktionary, English morceau‘a bit, a little piece’diminutive of morsum
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400morselWiktionary, English morceau
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600morceauWiktionary, French morceau
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentmorceauWiktionary, English morceau‘piece, slice, bit, morsel’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1796morceauWiktionary, English morceau. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1796, John Owen: “Amongſt a variety of urns, sepulchral fragments, and different…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- ‘to rub, wipe’

smart, remorse, mordant, 5 more

through Old French morsel

morsel, 2 more

Today it means

noun A small bit; a morsel or snippet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “morceau”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French morceau. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- / morceau

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