musth
/mʌst/noun
musth is spelled M-U-S-T-H: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 35 million words in written English, the 180,281st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, musth means “Chiefly preceded by in or on: the state each year during which a male animal (usually a camel or an elephant) exhibits increased aggressiveness and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of musth is musths.
How many letters and syllables are in musth?
| Letters | 5: M-U-S-T-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 35 million words; the 180,281st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is musth?
Musth appears about once in every 35 million words in written English, the 180,281st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce musth?
- US /mʌst/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-musth.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-musth.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with musth
Sounds like: mussed, must (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with musth?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as musth from its last stressed vowel (/ʌst/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: shtum.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of musth
- musths plural
- must
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does musth mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Chiefly preceded by in or on: the state each year during which a male animal (usually a camel or an elephant) exhibits increased aggressiveness and sexual activity due to a high level of testosterone.
- 2
An instance of this.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Musth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense state each year during which a male animal exhibits increased aggressiveness and:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | musth |
| German | Musth |
| Portuguese | cio |
| Spanish | must |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does musth come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).