tsktsk

See also: tsk-tsk and tsk tsk

English

Interjection

tsktsk

1. Alternative spelling of tsk tsk

Verb

tsktsk (third-person singular simple present tsktsks, present participle tsktsking, simple past and past participle tsktsked)

1. (intransitive, rare) To make a tsktsk sound of disapproval.
   • 1970, Clarence L. Cooper, The farm:

     "You're not supposed to talk," the guy at the desk tsktsked at us.

   • 1985, Jay Robert Nash, Stanley Ralph Ross, The motion picture guide:

     Tone takes Davis to his Connecticut home where housekeeper Skipworth tsktsks as Davis gets demanding and asks for booze.

   • 2009, Erin Downing, Drive Me Crazy:

     Adam tsktsked at her. “You are such a snob, Lex. What would you say if I told you we were going swimming at a country club?”

   • 2016 December 4, Paul Jenkins, “Flag-burning is ugly – but still protected speech”, in Anchorage Daily News‎^[1]:

     Instant fireworks. On cue, the usual suspects — The New York Times, the Washington Post and various other newspapers large and small went orbital. Pundits and odd and assorted talking heads and radio voices all got the vapors and tsk-tsk-tsked and cluck-clucked themselves into a froth.

   • 2022 November 16, Christopher Muther, “Social media is ruining our vacations”, in The Boston Globe‎^[2]:

     Specifically, 40 percent of Gen Z and millennials determine the success of their vacation by social media reaction to their photos. Before you start wagging a finger and tsk-tsk-ing about millennials, the study also found that Gen X and boomers aren’t far behind them.

Translations

exclamation of disapproval

• Russian: аяяйкать (ajajajkatʹ)