Moral

How to spell moral

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce moral

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does moral mean?

1. adjectiveConcerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour.
2. nounThe practical lesson or message that a story or event teaches.

Moral in a sentence

• adjective

  She faced a difficult moral choice when the cash was left on the desk.

• noun

  The moral of the tale is that patience pays off in the end.

• adjective

  The company has a moral duty to warn its customers about the fault.

• noun

  Every fable he read to the children ended with a clear moral.

Where does moral come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin moralis, meaning 'relating to manners, conduct, or custom'. That adjective was built on the noun mos (genitive moris), which literally meant a 'custom' or an established way of behaving, and in the plural mores it described the whole body of a society's accepted habits. The Roman writer Cicero is often credited with coining moralis to translate the Greek idea of ethics, the study of character. English took the word in during the 1300s through Old French, first to describe conduct measured against right and wrong, and later as a noun for the practical lesson drawn from a story. The same mos root still lives inside 'morale' and 'mores', and the single 'l' is the spelling trap, since writers often confuse moral with the French-flavoured morale, which has a final 'e' and a different stress.

How the word is built

• mor- (from Latin mos/moris: custom, conduct)
• -al (adjective/noun suffix)