rictus

English

WOTD – 11 January 2011

Etymology

Etymology tree
Latin ringor
Proto-Indo-European *-tus
Proto-Italic *-tus
Latin -tus
Latin rictuslbor.
English rictus

    Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈɹɪk.təs/, /ˈɹɪk.tʊs/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɪktəs

    Noun

    rictus (plural rictus or rictuses)

    1. A bird’s gaping mouth.
    2. The throat of a calyx.
    3. Any open-mouthed expression.
      His face was a rictus of sheer delight.
      • 1899, Victor Hugo, translated by Paul Maurice, The Memoirs of Victor Hugo:
        Amid a thick, bristling beard, a nose like an owl's beak and a mouth whose corners were drawn by a wild-beast-like rictus were just discernible.
      • 1916, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:
        A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces.
      • 1986, “Deaf Forever”, performed by Motörhead:
        Sword and shield, bone and steel / Rictus grin / Deaf forever to the battle's din
      • 1990, “Nothingface”, performed by Voivod:
        Valves plugs pumps to erase/ rictus from my face.
      • 1993, Wolfenstein 3D, scene: after defeating Hitler (episode 3), level/area: 9:
        The absolute incarnation of evil, Adolf Hitler, lies at your feet in a pool of his own blood. His wrinkled, crimson-splattered visage still strains, a jagged-toothed rictus trying to cry out. Insane even in death. Your lips pinched in bitter victory, you kick his head off his remains and spit on his corpse.
      • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 56:
        It squinted at her through the hated light, its brow a rictus of pain and fear.
      • 2008, Sean Williams, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, page 81:
        The apprentice watched his Master, pain twisting his features into a rictus.
      • 2025, R. F. Kuang, Katabasis, page 515:
        His thick, black brows organized his face in a rictus of fury.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Anagrams

    Catalan

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      rictus m (invariable)

      1. rictus

      Further reading

      French

      Etymology

        Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        rictus m (invariable)

        1. rictus; grimace

        Further reading

        Latin

        Etymology

        Etymology tree
        Latin ringor
        Proto-Indo-European *-tus
        Proto-Italic *-tus
        Latin -tus
        Latin rictus

          From ringor (“to gape, show one's teeth, snarl; to be vexed”) + -tus (action noun forming suffix).

          Pronunciation

          Noun

          rictus m (genitive rictūs); fourth declension

          1. the gaping of a mouth, as when laughing or yawning; (of animals) gaping jaws
            Synonym: hiātus
            • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 11.59–60:
              […] in lapidem rictus serpentis apertos
              congelat et patulos, ut erant, indurat hiatus.
              […] he hardens the snake's gaping jaws into stone and freezes its mouth, wide open, as it was.

          Declension

          Fourth-declension noun.

          singular plural
          nominative rictus rictūs
          genitive rictūs rictuum
          dative rictuī rictibus
          accusative rictum rictūs
          ablative rictū rictibus
          vocative rictus rictūs

          Descendants

          • → Catalan: rictus
          • → English: rictus
          • → French: rictus
          • → Italian: rictus, ricto
          • → Portuguese: ricto
          • → Spanish: rictus

          Participle

          rictus (feminine ricta, neuter rictum); first/second-declension participle

          1. perfect participle of ringor

          Declension

          First/second-declension adjective.

          singular plural
          masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
          nominative rictus ricta rictum rictī rictae ricta
          genitive rictī rictae rictī rictōrum rictārum rictōrum
          dative rictō rictae rictō rictīs
          accusative rictum rictam rictum rictōs rictās ricta
          ablative rictō rictā rictō rictīs
          vocative ricte ricta rictum rictī rictae ricta

          References

          • “rictus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
          • “rictus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
          • "rictus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

          Anagrams

          Romanian

          Etymology

          Etymology tree
          Latin ringor
          Proto-Indo-European *-tus
          Proto-Italic *-tus
          Latin -tus
          Latin rictuslbor.
          French rictusbor.
          Romanian rictus

            Borrowed from French rictus, a learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

            Noun

            rictus n (plural rictusuri)

            1. rictus

            Declension

            singular plural
            indefinite definite indefinite definite
            nominative-accusative rictus rictusul rictusuri rictusurile
            genitive-dative rictus rictusului rictusuri rictusurilor
            vocative rictusule rictusurilor

            Spanish

            Etymology

            Etymology tree
            Latin ringor
            Proto-Indo-European *-tus
            Proto-Italic *-tus
            Latin -tus
            Latin rictuslbor.
            Spanish rictus

              Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

              Pronunciation

              • IPA(key): /ˈriɡtus/ [ˈriɣ̞.t̪us]
              • Rhymes: -iɡtus
              • Syllabification: ric‧tus

              Noun

              rictus m (plural rictus)

              1. sneer; wince

              Further reading

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