different between jot vs morsel

English

Etymology

From Latin i?ta, from Ancient Greek ???? (iôta). Doublet of iota.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

jot (plural jots)

1. Iota; the smallest letter or stroke of any writing.
   • 1904, Bliss Carman, “Christmas Eve at St. Kavin’s” in Pipes of Pan: Songs from a Northern Garden, Boston: L.C. Page, p. 107,^[1]

     Of old, men said, “Sin not;

     By every line and jot

     Ye shall abide; man’s heart is false and vile.”

2. A small amount, bit; the smallest amount.

   He didn't care a jot for his work.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, 3rd edition, p. 159,^[2]

     After this I spent a great deal of Time and Pains to make me an Umbrella; I was indeed in great want of one, and had a great mind to make one; I had seen them made in the Brasils, where they are very useful in the great Heats which are there: And I felt the Heats every jot as great here, and greater too, being nearer the Equinox […]

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Chapter 8,^[3]

     “What does that matter? Arsenic would put poor Emily out of the way just as well as strychnine. If I’m convinced he did it, it doesn’t matter a jot to me how he did it.”

3. (obsolete) A moment, an instant.
   • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Amoretti in Kenneth J. Larson (ed.), Amoretti and Epithalamion: A Critical Edition, Tempe, AZ: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1997, Sonnet LVII, p. 91,^[4]

     So weake my powres, so sore my wounds appeare,

     that wonder is how I should liue a iot,

     seeing my hart through launched euery where

     with thousand arrowes, which your eies haue shot:

   • 1728, Lewis Theobald, Double Falshood: or, the Distrest Lovers, London: J. Watts, Act I, Scene 1, p. 12,^[5]

     Making my Death familiar to my Tongue

     Digs not my Grave one Jot before the Date.

4. A brief and hurriedly written note.
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 53:

     "I say, it is no uneven jot, to pass from the more faint and obscure examples of Spermatical life to the more considerable effects of general Motion in Minerals, Metalls, and sundry Meteors ..."

   • 1920, Robert Nichols, “Sonnets to Aurelia, IV” in Aurelia and Other Poems, London: Chatto & Windus, p. 29,^[6]

     “Lover,” you say; “how beautiful that is,

     That little word!” […]

     Yes, it is beautiful. I have marked it long,

     Long in my dusty head its jot secreted,

     Yet my heart never knew this word a song

     Till in the night softly by you repeated.

Synonyms

• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

• every jot and tittle
• not a jot or tittle

Translations

See also

• tittle

Verb

jot (third-person singular simple present jots, present participle jotting, simple past and past participle jotted)

1. (usually with "down") To write quickly.

   Tell me your order, so I can jot it down.

Derived terms

• jot down

Translations

Anagrams

• OJT, OTJ

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• jott (westernmost Ripuarian)
• got (northern Moselle Franconian)
• gut (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Old High German guod, northern variant of guot, from Proto-Germanic *g?daz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jo?t/

Adjective

jot (masculine jode, feminine jot, comparative besser, superlative et beste)

1. (most of Ripuarian) good

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *jo. Cognate to Finnish jotta.

Conjunction

jot

1. so that, in order that

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jo?t/, /?o?t/

Verb

jot

1. inflection of joen:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Rayón Zoque

Noun

jot

1. bird

Derived terms

• jot?une

See also

• jotjot

References

• Harrison, Roy; B. de Harrison, Margaret; López Juárez, Francisco; Ordoñes, Cosme (1984) Vocabulario zoque de Rayón (Serie de diccionarios y vocabularios indígenas Mariano Silva y Aceves; 28)?^[7] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 10

English

Etymology

From Middle English morsel, 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 mordere (“to bite”). Compare French morceau.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m??s?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m??s?l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s?l

Noun

morsel (plural morsels)

1. A small fragment or share of something, commonly applied to food.
   • 1979, Roald Dahl, The Twits

     By sticking out his tongue and curling it sideways to explore the hairy jungle around his mouth, he was always able to find a tasty morsel here and there to nibble on.

2. A mouthful of food.
3. A very small amount.
   • 2008, Pamela Griffin, New York Brides, Barbour Publishing Inc. (2008), ?ISBN, page 70:

     Didn't even a morsel of decency remain in his brother?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:modicum.

Derived terms

• morselize, morselization

Related terms

• mordant
• remorse

Translations

Further reading

• morsel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• morsel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “morsel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “morsel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Merlos, Morels, morels, smoler

Middle English

Alternative forms

• morselle, morsille, morssel, morscel, morcelle, mursel

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French morsel, morsiel, morcel.

Noun

morsel (plural morsels)

1. small piece of food

Descendants

• English: morsel
• Yola: mossaale

References

• “morsel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Alternative forms

• morcel

Etymology

From Medieval Latin morsellum (“a bit, a little piece”), diminutive of Latin morsum (“a bit”), neuter of morsus, past participle of morde?, mord?re (“bite, nibble, gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer?- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mur?s?l/

Noun

morsel m (oblique plural morseaus or morseax or morsiaus or morsiax or morsels, nominative singular morseaus or morseax or morsiaus or morsiax or morsels, nominative plural morsel)

1. morsel; bit; piece

Descendants

• English: morsel
• French: morceau
• Norman: morcé (Jersey, Guernsey)
• Hungarian: morzsa