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scut

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scut¹

  • /skʌt/ UK
  • /skʌt/ US
  • /skət/ US
  • /skʊt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌt

Where it comes from

From Middle English scut (“hare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Middle English scut, scute (“short”), possibly from Old French escorter, escurter, or Latin excurtāre, scurtāre, from curtō (“to cut short, shorten”), from curtus (“short; shortened”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”)) + -ō. A derivation from Old Norse skut, skutr (“stern of a boat”), or Icelandic skott (“animal's tail”) is thought to be unlikely.

As to sense 3 (“the female pudenda, the vulva”), see the letter of 5 June 1875 from Joseph Crosby to Joseph Parker Norris published in One Touch of Shakespeare (1986).

noun scuts

  1. obsolete A hare; (hunting, also figuratively) a hare as the game in a hunt.
  2. A short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer. Shakespeare's use of the word scut may be a sly reference to Mistress Ford's pudenda: see sense 3.
  3. broadly The buttocks or rump; also, the female pudenda, the vulva. I rumpled her Feathers, and tickled her Scut, / And play'd the round Rubbers at two handed Put.

scut²

  • /skʌt/ UK
  • /skʌt/ US
  • /skət/ US
  • /skʊt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌt

Where it comes from

Uncertain, possibly a variant of scout (“(obsolete except Scotland) contemptible person”), possibly related to scout (“to reject with contempt; to scoff”), from a North Germanic language; compare Old Norse skúta, skúte (“a taunt”), probably from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to shoot; to throw”). Compare Old Norse skútyrði, skotyrði (“abusive language”).

noun scuts

  1. Ireland, colloquial A contemptible person. He sped off towards Conway's corner. God speed scut.

    Similar: arsehole, ass, assface, asshat, asshole, asswipe, bastard, bitch, blackguard, blaggard, buttlicker, buttmunch

scut³

  • /skʌt/ UK
  • /skʌt/ US
  • /skət/ US
  • /skʊt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌt

Where it comes from

Uncertain; perhaps related to scut (“contemptible person”): see etymology 2.

noun scuts

  1. attributive, countable, uncountable Distasteful work; drudgery Let's devote mornings to the scut, do real work in the afternoon.

    Similar: chores, drudgery, drudgework, fatigue, razzmatazz, scut, scutwork, swink, toil

  2. countable, slang, uncountable Some menial procedure left for a doctor or medical student to complete, sometimes for training purposes. There's no question that it's sexist. [Female residents] are berated more on rounds, given more scut to do.

scut⁴

  • /skʌt/ UK
  • /skʌt/ US
  • /skət/ US
  • /skʊt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌt

Where it comes from

Origin unknown; perhaps from scut(tle), or related to Swedish skutta (“to leap”).

verb scuts · scutting · scut

  1. East Anglia, Yorkshire, intransitive To scamper off. ―A fat lot you know about it, Thunder! Wells said. I know why they scut.

Translations

Every language

noun short, erect tail

DeutschBlume
Italianocodino

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MLA

"scut." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/scut. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

scut. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/scut

Chicago

"scut." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/scut.

BibTeX
@misc{scut_2026,
  title = {scut},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/scut},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}