husk
UK/hʌsk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/hʊsk/
husk noun: the dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside.
Noun (1)
husk (plural husks)
- The dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside.
- A coconut has a very thick husk.
- Any form of useless, dried up, and subsequently worthless exterior of something.
- His attorney was a dried-up husk of a man.
- Unlike dogs, cats have retractable claws which do not wear down when walking. Instead, cats pull the old husk of nail from their claws by raking them down some convenient piece of wood, to expose a new sharp claw underneath.1991, Morgan Kerr, Norman Kerr, An Introduction to Cat Care, page 63
- The supporting frame of a run of millstones.
- A group of hares.
- Isn't it just like that in your average husk of hares.1994, Hornig, Dana, Seize the Day: For People Over 49, Stamford, Connecticut: Cove Press, page 304
- The image is of a husk of hares surprised by some intruder and scattering in all directions to wooded safety.1998, Lucinda A. Stark Huffaker, Creative Dwelling, Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, page 156
Verb (1)
husk (third-person singular simple present husks, present participle husking, simple past and past participle husked)
- To remove husks from.
Noun (2)
husk (uncountable)
- An infection in cattle caused by a species of Dictyocaulus or lungworm
- The symptoms of Husk are a constant cough, rapid loss of flesh, difficulty in breathing and, in the later stages, loss of appetite and diarrhœa.1876, John Walker, How to Farm with Profit Arable and Pasture Land: A Practical Manual on Modern Agriculture, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, page 78
Verb (2)
husk (third-person singular simple present husks, present participle husking, simple past and past participle husked)
- To cough, clear one's throat.
- Back on the veranda he said to Lace gravely, "I do believe that poor child's in the family way." Lace, tracing the pattern of the matting with his boot, husked, and murmured, "Yes — I think so.1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XI, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 181
- To say huskily, to utter in a husky voice.
- The French captain did not immediately respond; he looked at his men with a miserable expression [...]; still he hesitated, drooped, and finally husked, "Je me rends," with a look still more wretched.2006, Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon, Del Rey Books, page 5
Proper noun capitalized: Husk
Husk (plural Husks)
- A surname.
husk meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
husk in Tamil
- exterior of certain vegetables or fruits
- உமி umi
- remove husks from
- உமி umi
husk in Urdu
- بھوسا, بھوسی, چھلکا, چوکر, خول, پھٹکن
husk in Bengali
- husk
- ভুসি bhuśi
husk in Malayalam
- exterior of certain vegetables or fruits
- തൊണ്ട് toṇṭŭ
More languagesFewer languages
- husk in Kannada
- ಹೊಟ್ಟು, ಸಿಪ್ಪೆ, ತೊಗಟೆ, ಗುಂಗು
- husk in Gujarati
- ફોતરું photrũ
- husk in Odia
- କୁଟିବା kuṭibā
- husk in Arabic
- قِشْرَة qišra
- husk in Malay
- sekam, sabut, kupas
- husk in Persian
- سبوس sabus, سپوس sapus
Examples of husk in a sentence
- The city has reclaimed its riverfront, transforming it from shuttered industrial husks into commercial-and-residential mixed-use real estate with substantial market value.
- Some longtime Texas tamaleros told the American-Statesman that good tamales easily slide right off the husk.
- Instead, the university is a husk, an empty vessel, a zombie organization.
Forms of husk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | husks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | husks |
| present participle | husking |
| past participle | husked |
| past | husked |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Husks |
Origin of husk
From Middle English huske, husk (“husk”). Perhaps from Old English *husuc, *hosuc (“little covering, sheath”), diminutive of hosu (“pod, shell, husk”), from Proto-West Germanic *hosā, from Proto-Germanic *husǭ (“covering, shell, leggings”), from Proto-Indo-European *kawəs- / kawes- (“cover”). If so, equivalent to hose + -ock. Alternatively from Middle Low German hûs(e)ken, hü̂seken (“little house, sheath”), Middle Dutch husekijn (“little house, core of fruit, case”), diminutive of hûs (“house”). Compare Dutch huisje, German Häuschen, both also used for “snailshell”.
Partly imitative, partly from Etymology 1, above, influenced by husky.
Words formed from husk
Phrases with husk
Words that rhyme with husk
Questions about husk
- What does husk mean?
- Husk means the dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside.
- What is husk in Tamil?
- Husk in Tamil is உமி (umi). See Husk meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is husk?
- Husk can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce husk?
- Husk is pronounced /hʌsk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of husk?
- The plural of husk is husks.
Words near husk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: husk (page history and authors); Husk (page history and authors); husk (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ভুসি (Bengali) (page history and authors); husk (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ફોતરું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); କୁଟିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-husk.ogg.
Cite this entry: “husk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/husk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.