morceau

/ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/

//ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ// noun

"morceau" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“morceau” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A small bit; a morsel or snippet.

Corpus desk

Index EN-morceau · morceau · English

morceau · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for morceau
PropertyValue
Headwordmorceau
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “morceau” in English

morceauranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

morceau is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small bit; a morsel or snippet.".

morceau doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French morceau, 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 mordeō, mordēre (“bite, nibble, gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to … The correct English form is morceau, spelled M-O-R-C-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    A small bit; a morsel or snippet.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how morceau appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. M. De Luc has a specimen of the uranite (Peckblend) mixed with titan and crystals of quartz, a morceau of singular beauty
  2. Amongſt a variety of urns, sepulchral fragments, and different morceaus of antiquity, are the known and celebrated buſts of Alexander the Great, and Brutus

Etymology

From French morceau, 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 mordeō, mordēre (“bite, nibble, gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to rub, wipe; to pack, rob”). Doublet of morsel.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "morceau"?
"morceau" is spelled M-O-R-C-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/.
What does "morceau" mean?
As a noun, "morceau" means: A small bit; a morsel or snippet.
How do you pronounce "morceau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "morceau" is /ˈmɔː(ɹ)səʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "morceau"?
From French morceau, 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 mordeō, mordēre (“bite, nibble, gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)m... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list