rictus

English

WOTD – 11 January 2011

Etymology

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:

     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

• rictal

Translations

Any open-mouthed expression

Finnish: irvistys (fi) French: rictus (fr) m German: Grimasse (de) f Romanian: rictus (ro)

Anagrams

• Citrus, Curtis, Turcis, citrus, rustic

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈrik.tus]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

rictus m (invariable)

1. rictus

Further reading

• “rictus”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “rictus”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “rictus” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “rictus” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁik.tys/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

Noun

rictus m (invariable)

1. rictus; grimace

Further reading

• “rictus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈrɪk.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈrik.tus]

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, Ovid, 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

• → English: rictus
• → French: rictus
• → 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

• citrus

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French rictus, borrowed 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

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

• “rictus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024