scut

¹ American  

[skuht] / skʌt /

noun

1. a short tail, especially that of a hare, rabbit, or deer.

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scut ² American  

[skuht] / skʌt /

noun

Slang.

1. a worthless, contemptible person.

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scut British  

/ skʌt /

noun

1. the short tail of animals such as the deer and rabbit

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Etymology

Origin of scut¹

1400–50; late Middle English: hare < Old Norse skutr stern

Origin of scut²

1870–75; origin uncertain; perhaps continuation of Scots and dial. scout, scoot, Middle English scoute in same sense; perhaps noun use of Scots scout to spurt, squirt out, scoot

Example Sentences

He thinks this is partly because AI took so much scut work off people’s plates that their days became consumed by high-level thinking—and they were burning out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

But it becomes a problem when colleagues regularly have to take on someone else’s scut work or put more thought into fixing a work product than was put into creating it.

From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2023

Normally, the vice president gets the scut work, like, say, going to Lorain, Ohio, to talk about the infrastructure law.

From Washington Times • Feb. 22, 2022

He was “uninterested in the amount of scut work that’s involved with other fields of medicine,” Anna said.

From Salon • Mar. 12, 2013

The inmates kept their eyes down as they did the scut work, emptying ashtrays and wiping the urine from toilets.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover