musk

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
musk/mʌsk/

▶noun

• 1 a strong-smelling reddish-brown substance secreted by the male musk deer, used as an ingredient in perfumery.

• 2 (also musk plant) a musk-scented plant related to the monkey flower. [Mimulus moschatus and related species.]

– derivatives
muskiness noun,
musky adjective (muskier, muskiest).

– origin ME: from late L. muscus, from Pers. mušk, perh. from Sanskrit muṣka ‘scrotum’ (because of the similarity in shape of the sac on the abdomen of a male musk deer in which musk is produced).