different between ankus vs onkus

English

Alternative forms

• ankhus
• ankush
• ankusha

Etymology

From Hindi ????? (a?kus), from Sanskrit ?????? (a?ku?a).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?a?.k?s/

Noun

ankus (plural ankuses)

1. The hooked goad that is used in India to control elephants.
   • 1895, Rudyard Kipling, The King's Ankus

     At last he found something really fascinating laid on the front of a howdah half buried in the coins. It was a three-foot ankus, or elephant-goad—something like a small boathook. The top was one round, shining ruby, and eight inches of the handle below it were studded with rough turquoises close together, giving a most satisfactory grip.

   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 22:

     He reached for the ivory handle of his ankus and turned to the stripling.

Anagrams

• Kansu, Kuans, Kunas, kunas, unask

English

Etymology

Australian from 1916.(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

onkus (comparative more onkus, superlative most onkus)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, rare) Inferior; unpleasant; unacceptably bad.
   • 1981, Herman Charles Bosman, The Collected Works of Herman Charles Bosman, page 101,

     The soup was crook. It was onkus. A yellow-bellied platypus couldn?t drink it […]

Anagrams

• Okuns