Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Musk |
MuskNoun1. An odorous glandular secretion from the male musk deer; used as a perfume fixative. 2. The scent of musk. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "musk" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Etymology: Musk \Musk\, noun. [French musc, Latin muscus, Persian musk, from Sanskrit mushka testicle, orig., a little mouse. See Mouse, and cd. Abelmosk, Muscadel, Muscovy duck, Nutmeg.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of musk, foretells unexpected occasions of joy, and lovers will agree and cease to be unfaithful. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The variety which appears in commerce is a secretion of the musk deer; but the odor is also emitted by the musk ox and muskrat of India and Europe, by the Musk Duck (Biziura lobata) of southern Australia, the musk shrew, the musk beetle (Calichroma moschata), the alligator of Central America, and by several other animals.
In the vegetable kingdom it is present in the common musk (Mimulus inoschalus), the musk wood of the Guianas and West Indies, and in the seeds of Hibiscus Abelmoschus (musk seeds).
To obtain the perfume from the musk deer the animal is killed and the gland completely removed, and dried, either in the sun, on a hot stone, or by immersion in hot oil. It appears in commerce as "musk in pod" (i.e. the glands are entire) or as "musk in grain" (in which the perfume has been extracted from its receptacle).
Three kinds are recognized:
Good musk is of a dark purplish color, dry, smooth and unctuous to the touch, and bitter in taste. It dissolves in boiling water to the extent of about one-half; alcohol takes up one-third of the substance, and ether and chloroform dissolve still less. The grain of musk will distinctly scent millions of cubic feet of air without any appreciable loss of weight, and its scent is not only more penetrating but more persistent than that of any other known substance. In addition to its odoriferous principle, it contains ammonia, cholesterin, fatty matter, a bitter resinous substance, and other animal principles. As a material in perfumery it is of the first importance, its powerful and enduring odor giving strength and permanency to the vegetable essences, so that it is an ingredient in many compounded perfumes.
Artificial musk is a synthetic product, having a similar odor to natural musk. It was obtained by Baur in 1888 by condensing toluene with isobutyl bromide in the presence of aluminium chloride, and nitrating the product. It is a symtrinitro-butyl (?) toluene. Many similar preparations have been made, and it appears that the odour depends upon the symmetry of the three nitro groups.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Musk."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Animal | Fox, Reynard, vixen, stag, deer, hart, buck, doe, roe; caribou, coyote, elk, moose, musk ox, sambar. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Musk |
| English words defined with "musk": Amber seed ♦ Bondar, Boomorah ♦ civet, civet cat ♦ family Kinosternidae ♦ genus Hypsiprymnodon, genus Moschus, genus Sternotherus ♦ Hypsiprymnodon ♦ Kinosternidae ♦ Moschatel, Moschine, Moschus, Moschus moschiferus, Musk cattle, Musk deer, Musk parakeet, Musk poulp, Musk sheep, Musk shrew, Musk thistle, Muskiness, musky ♦ Noisette ♦ Rat-tailed shrew ♦ Sondeli, Sternotherus, Stink rat. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "musk": Scent Glands ♦ uncarded or uncombed fine animal hair. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "musk": Abelmosk ♦ Moschatel, Muscardin, Muscovy duck. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Musk" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Manx (musk). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | A Bottle of Musk (1913) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Musk oxen - Ovibos moschatus. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |  | The semi-aquatic Eastern Mud Turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum, is the mud turtle found in the Chesapeake Bay area. Found in wetlands and tidal marshes, is is easlily confused with the musk turtle. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
 | Musk thistle and Teton National Park. Credit: Jerry Asher. |  | Bull Musk Ox. Credit: Alaska Image Library. |
 | Trio of Musk Oxen on Nunivak. Credit: Alaska Image Library. |  | Nunivak Island Musk Ox Transplant. Credit: Alaska Historical Image Library. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Trade | China | Products banned from export include musk, copper, platinum, specified chemical compounds, and products whose export is banned under international treaties. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Musk" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 91.67% of the time. "Musk" is used about 48 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 91.67% | 44 | 51,500 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.25% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2.08% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 48 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "musk": Java musk deer ♦ musk beaver ♦ musk beetle ♦ musk cat ♦ musk cattle ♦ musk clover ♦ musk crowfoot ♦ musk deer ♦ musk duck ♦ musk hog ♦ musk kangaroo ♦ musk lorikeet ♦ musk mallow ♦ musk melon ♦ musk orchis ♦ musk ox ♦ musk parakeet ♦ musk pear ♦ musk plant ♦ musk poulp ♦ musk root ♦ musk rose ♦ musk seed ♦ musk sheep ♦ musk shrew ♦ musk thistle ♦ musk tortoise ♦ musk turtle ♦ pygmy musk deer ♦ scarlet musk flower. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "musk": musk-and-amber, musk-based, musk-duck, musk-ox, musk-oxen, musk-rat, musk-scented, musk-shrew. | |
Ending with "musk": lemon-musk. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
musk | 75 | common musk turtle | 7 |
musk ox | 40 | musk ox picture | 7 |
musk turtle | 37 | skin musk | 7 |
musk oil | 33 | musk rat | 6 |
musk thistle | 24 | musk natural | 6 |
egyptian musk | 22 | jovan white musk | 6 |
white musk | 17 | farm musk ox | 5 |
jovan musk | 15 | malibu musk | 5 |
musk oxen | 15 | musk oxen photo | 5 |
musk massage oil | 11 | english leather musk | 4 |
egyptian musk oil | 11 | musk perfume | 4 |
deer musk | 10 | alyssa ashley musk | 4 |
bell bonne musk skin | 10 | hybrid musk rose | 4 |
musk melon | 10 | musk for man | 3 |
elon musk | 9 | musk picture turtle | 3 |
lotion musk | 8 | skunk musk | 3 |
kiehls musk oil | 8 | jovan musk oil | 3 |
musk mallow | 8 | bell bonne musk oil skin | 3 |
kiehls musk oil original | 8 | coty musk | 3 |
musk essence | 8 | musk picture rat | 3 |
musk rose | 7 | musk razorback turtle | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "musk"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | myshk (moss, scent), misk, erë misku. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مسكي الرائحة, عبير المسك, المسك مادة نفاذة العبير. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | с миризма на мускус, мускус, миризма на мускус. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 麝香. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | pižmová vùnì (foxiness), pižmo (caster). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | moskus. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | muskus. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | mosko. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | myski. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | musc. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Moschus. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μόσκοσ άρωμα, μόσχοσ (calf, civet, masque), μόσχος. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | כבש "שור (musk ox). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | pézsmagyöngyike, pézsma. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | kasturi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | muschio (moss). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 麝香 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | じゃ"う. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 궁노루. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | musk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | uskmay almíscar. (various references) mosc (moschus, musk deer), miros de mosc. (various references) мускусный запах, мускус. (various references) mošus. (various references) almizcle. (various references) mysk. (various references) misk out (monkey flower, musk plant), misk. (various references) мускус. (various references) xạ hương hươu xạ mùi xạ. (various references) mwsg. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sanskrit | 300 BCE-Modern | muska-s. (various references) |
| Arabic | 500-Modern | zabad. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "musk": muskeg, muskegs, muskellunge, muskellunges, musket, musketeer, musketeers, musketries, musketry, muskets, muskie, muskier, muskies, muskiest, muskily, muskiness, muskinesses, muskit, muskits, muskmelon, muskmelons, muskrat, muskrats, musks, musky. (additional references) | |
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"Musk" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Eusko, fusk, gusk, jusk, Masik, mesk, Mesko, mgso, Mieska, Mieszko, misak, misc, miska, miskr, mnso, Moskva, mpus, msc, muk, Mulk, Mulso, munk, mursi, musak, Musaka, musc, muscu, musek, musi, muska, Muskau, muso, Musoke, musr, musu, Mutsuki, muus, muz, muza, Muzik, nusk, Ummk, Umsl, usc. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "musk" (pronounced mu"sk) |
| 3 | -u" s k | brusque, Busk, Cusk, dusk, husk, Rusk, tusk. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "k-m-s-u" | |
-1 letter: mus, sum. | |
-2 letters: mu, um, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "k-m-s-u" | |
+1 letter: kumys, mucks, murks, musks, musky. | |
+2 letters: amucks, hokums, khoums, koumis, koumys, kumiss, mujiks, muskeg, musket, muskie, muskit, oakums, shmuck, umiaks, unmask. | |
+3 letters: bumkins, bunkums, dinkums, kaliums, koumiss, koumyss, kummels, kumyses, makeups, mamluks, markups, misteuk, mockups, mollusk, moujiks, muckers, muckles, mukluks, muktuks, murkest, muskegs, muskets, muskier, muskies, muskily, muskits, muskrat, muspike, muzhiks, muzjiks, rumakis, sambuke, schmuck, shmucks, skellum, skookum, stickum, umiacks, unmakes, unmasks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 75 73 6B |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-- ..- ... -.- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01110101 01110011 01101011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M u s k |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 0075 0073 006B |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)47878577 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
