Wiktionary

rictus

English edit

Etymology edit

From Latin rictus, participle of ringor (“open the mouth wide”).

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

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:
      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.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Noun edit

rictus m (invariable)

  1. rictus

French edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

rictus m (plural rictus)

  1. rictus; grimace

Further reading edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From ringor (“I gape, show my teeth, snarl; I am vexed”) +‎ -tus (action noun forming suffix).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

rictus m (genitive rictūs); fourth declension

  1. the gaping of a mouth, as when laughing or yawning

Declension edit

Fourth-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative rictus rictūs
Genitive rictūs rictuum
Dative rictuī rictibus
Accusative rictum rictūs
Ablative rictū rictibus
Vocative rictus rictūs

Descendants edit

  • → English: rictus
  • → French: rictus
  • → Portuguese: ricto
  • → Spanish: rictus

References edit

  • “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’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Anagrams edit

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French rictus, from Latin rictus.

Noun edit

rictus n (plural rictusuri)

  1. rictus

Declension edit

Declension of rictus
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) rictus rictusul (niște) rictusuri rictusurile
genitive/dative (unui) rictus rictusului (unor) rictusuri rictusurilor
vocative rictusule rictusurilor

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

rictus m (plural rictus)

  1. sneer; wince

Further reading edit

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