# rictus
## English
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

rictus (plural rictus or rictuses)
* A bird’s gaping mouth.
* The throat of a calyx.
* 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
### Anagrams

* Citrus, Curtis, Turcis, citrus, rustic

## Catalan
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

### Noun

rictus m (invariable)
* rictus

## French
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʁik.tys/
* Audio:(file)
* Audio (Switzerland):(file)

### Noun

rictus m (plural rictus)
* 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: /ˈrik.tus/, [ˈrɪkt̪ʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈrik.tus/, [ˈrikt̪us]

### Noun

rictus m (genitive rictūs); fourth declension
* the gaping of a mouth, as when laughing or yawning

#### Declension

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

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

### 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’s 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)
* rictus

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈriɡtus/ [ˈriɣ̞.t̪us]
* Rhymes: -iɡtus
* Syllabification: ric‧tus

### Noun

rictus m (plural rictus)
* sneer; wince

### Further reading

* “rictus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014