different between morsel vs mote

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

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mo?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m??t/
• Rhymes: -??t
• Homophone: moat

Etymology 1

From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), but of uncertain ultimate origin. Sometimes linked to Spanish mota (“speck”) and English mud..

Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

1. A small particle; a speck.

   • Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

   • a. 1729, Edward Taylor, "Meditation. Joh. 14.2. I go to prepare a place for you":

     What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?

     An Emmet match an Emperor in might?

Translations

See also

• floater

Etymology 2

From Middle English moten, from Old English m?tan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, may, must”), from Proto-Germanic *m?tan? (“to be able to, have to, be delegated”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, be in charge of”). Cognate with Dutch moeten (“to have to, must”), German müssen (“to have to, must”), Danish måtte (“might, may”), Ancient Greek ???? (méd?, “to prevail, dominate, rule over”). Related to empty.

Verb

mote (third-person singular simple present mote, no present participle, simple past and past participle must)

1. (archaic) May or might. [from 9th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

     he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny.

2. (obsolete) Must. [9th-17th c.]
3. (archaic) Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may. [from 9th c.]
   • 1980, Erica Jong, Fanny:

     ‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster.

Usage notes

• Generally takes an infinitive without to.

Etymology 3

See moot (“a meeting”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

1. (obsolete) A meeting for discussion.

   a wardmote in the city of London

2. (obsolete) A body of persons who meet for discussion, especially about the management of affairs.

   a folk mote

3. (obsolete) A place of meeting for discussion.

Derived terms

• folk-mote
• mote bell
• shire-mote

Etymology 4

From remote, with allusion to the other sense of mote (“a speck of dust”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

1. A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.

References

Anagrams

• -tome, Tome, tome

Inari Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *mo??.

Noun

mote

1. mud

Inflection

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages?^[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Italian

Noun

mote f pl

1. plural of mota

Anagrams

• temo

Japanese

Romanization

mote

1. R?maji transcription of ??

Latin

Participle

m?te

1. vocative masculine singular of m?tus

Middle English

Verb

mote

1. inflection of moten (“to have to”):
   1. present subjunctive singular
   2. present indicative/subjunctive plural

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French mode

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural moter, definite plural motene)

1. fashion

Derived terms

• motebevisst
• motehus
• moteshow
• moteverden

References

• “mote” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French mode

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural motar, definite plural motane)

1. fashion

Derived terms

• motebevisst
• motehus
• moteshow
• motemedveten, motemedviten

References

• “mote” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Provençal or French mot (“word”); see also Italian motto (“word”).

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

1. motto

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mote/, [?mo.t?e]

Etymology 1

From French mot (“word, saying”) or Occitan mot.

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

1. nickname
2. motto (heraldry)

Related terms

• motejar

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Quechua mut'i.

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

1. (South America) hulled cereal, especially pearl barley and hominy

Derived terms

• mote de maíz
• mote de trigo

Further reading

• “mote” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Volapük

Noun

mote

1. dative singular of mot