musth
/mʌst/ noun
Forms musths must
- noun (also attributive, uncountable) 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.
- noun (countable) An instance of this.
Etymology
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”).
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “musth”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details