rictus

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>rictus</strong> &#149; \RIK-tus\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> the gape of a bird's mouth</p> <p><strong>2 a :</strong> the mouth orifice</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> a gaping grin or grimace</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"You could make a strong case that the current face of the Mariners' franchise, generically speaking, is frozen in a <em>rictus</em> of frustration.… Perhaps one day soon a savior will emerge and lead the Mariners to unachieved heights." — <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/the-mariners-have-a-vacancy-for-the-next-face-of-the-franchise-but-they-need-a-lot-more-than-that/">Larry Stone, <em>The Seattle Times</em>, 31 Mar. 2021</a></p> <p>"To [Jim Carrey] fans, it's fun to watch him return to sketch comedy—the medium that offered his big break back in the early ’90s—turn that rubber face into a <em>rictus</em>, and wiggle his glued-on eyebrows." — <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/10/9/21509329/saturday-night-live-jim-carrey-joe-biden-snl">Alison Herman, <em>The Ringer</em>, 9 Oct. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Rictus</em> began its English career in the late 17th century as a technical term for the mouth of an animal, the new science of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zoology">zoology</a> clearly calling for some Latin to set its lingo apart from the language of farmers. In Latin, <em>rictus</em> means "an open mouth"; it comes from the verb <em>ringi</em>, meaning "to open the mouth." Zoologists couldn't keep the word to themselves, though. English speakers liked its sound too much, and they thought it would be good for referring to a gaping grin or grimace. James Joyce used the word in both <em>Ulysses</em> (1922) and <em>A Portrait of the Arti