moment

The word 'moment' entered English in the late 14th century from Old French 'moment', which itself derived from Latin 'momentum'. The Latin term meant 'movement, motion; short span of time; influence', and was a contraction of the phrase movimentum, from the verb 'movere' meaning 'to move'. This origin reveals the conceptual link between motion and time: a 'moment' was originally a particle of time defined by the movement of a celestial body, like the turning of a scale. Over time, the sense of a brief, moving instant became primary, while the related sense of 'importance' developed from the idea of a decisive, moving force or influence.

The entire word 'moment' is a simplex loanword from Latin. It is not productively segmented into smaller, meaningful morphemes in modern English.