musk
n. C / Un. a strong-smelling substance used to make perfumes. It originally comes from a gland in a male deer, but it is now usually made in a lab.
n. a strong-smelling substance secreted by the glandular sac of the male musk deer, or a synthetic substitute, used as a fixative in perfumery.
The perfume has a heavy scent of musk.
The air in the old library was thick with the smell of dust, aged paper, and a faint hint of musk.
While the original extraction of musk required the sacrifice of the animal, modern chemistry allows perfumers to replicate its warm, earthy base notes using entirely synthetic compounds.
From Middle English muske, borrowed from Old French musc, from Late Latin muscus, from Ancient Greek μόσχος (móskhos), from Middle Persian [script needed] (mwšk' /muʃk/) whence Persian مشک (mošk). Ultimately from Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣka, “testicle”), the shape of the gland of animals secreting the substance being compared to human testicles, a diminutive of मूष् (mūṣ, “mouse”), the shape of human testicles being compared to mice, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s (“mouse”). Cognate with mouse.
Uncountable when referring to the scent or the substance in general; countable when referring to specific varieties or chemical types.