Wiktionary

rictus

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Noun

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rictus m (invariable)

  1. rictus

French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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rictus m (plural rictus)

  1. rictus; grimace

Further reading

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Latin

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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rictus m (genitive rictūs); fourth declension

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

Declension

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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

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

References

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  • “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

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French rictus, borrowed from Latin rictus.

Noun

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rictus n (plural rictusuri)

  1. rictus

Declension

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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

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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rictus m (plural rictus)

  1. sneer; wince

Further reading

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