tsktsk
Morphology
full reduplication.InterjectionEtymology
Alveolar click formed by suction: cf. tchick n., tck int.Definition
A sound expressing commiseration; an exclamation of disapproval or irritation. So tsk-tsk v. intr., to make this sound or utter this exclamation; also trans., to say disapprovingly.Quotations
1947 K. L. Pike Phonemics ii. 41/1 Do you get a sound resembling the noise of commiseration which is sometimes written in literature as tsk-tsk', or tut-tut'?1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xvii. 277 When she doesn't like a writer or a composer, it sort of dampens my activity about him. I'm henpecked.' Tsk, tsk,' said Ed extra clearly.
1958 L. Durrell Mountolive xvi. 307 Balthazar walked slowly making the little clucking noise he always made with his tongue Tsck, tsck.
1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship xiv. 273 Poor Carolyn Hastings is officially engaged to that dreadful Cowie boy.' Tsk.'
1966 M. Avallone Fat Death 47 Mr. Noon,' he tsk-tsked reprovingly. You really pretend not to know?'
1968 Punch 20 Mar. 428/3 No amount of tsk-tsking indignation and bitter wit will turn a buy into a bargain.
1976 New Yorker 26 Apr. 102/2 She tsk-tsks over Momma.
1983 M. Gee Sole Survivor iv. 32 The constable went tsk, tsk and looked at us sadly. There was nothing he could do so he sent us home.
References
The Oxford English dictionary, 2nd ed. Edited by J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. Clarendon Press, 1989.DictionaryEntries | FieldGuide
