rictus means A bird’s gaping mouth.
rictus is pronounced /ˈɹɪk.təs/.
Why “rictus” is a great word
A fixed, unnatural, and rigid opening of the mouth, as in a grimace or grin. From Latin *rictus* ("wide-open mouth"), from the past participle stem of *ringī* ("to open the mouth wide"), first attested in English in the mid-18th century. Unlike "smile," which implies a warm and voluntary expression, or "grimace," which speaks of a whole face in temporary distress, a rictus is the specific, arrested geometry of the jaw—an involuntary contortion frozen in place. It is the death mask's permanent aperture, the silent scream captured on a battlefield corpse, the waxen grin of a funerary mask—the moment when expression becomes a cavity, a wound held open by time.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.
noun
- A bird’s gaping mouth.
- The throat of a calyx.
- Any open-mouthed expression.e.g.“His face was a rictus of sheer delight.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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