Link Centre Dictionary

musth

US/mʌst/ uncommon

noun

1.

an annual phase of heightened sexual excitement in the males of certain large mammals (especially elephants); is associated with discharge from a gland between the eye and ear

  • “the frenzied elephant was in musth”

Origin

Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi मस्त (mast) / Urdu مَسْت (mast, “drunk, intoxicated; lustful”); and also from Middle Hindi مَسْت (mst /⁠mast⁠/)), and from its etymon Classical Persian مَسْت (mast, “(adjective) drunk, intoxicated; (literary) in rut; of an elephant: in musth; (noun) drunkard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to be wet; to become wet”).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.