arse
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érsos (“backside, buttocks”) (according to Julius Pokorny and Carl Darling Buck).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɑːs/
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ɐːs/
- (Ireland, Scotland) IPA(key): /aɹs/, /äːɹs/
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ɑɹs/
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)s
Audio (UK): (file) Audio (Canada): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
arse (plural arses)
- (Commonwealth, now vulgar) The buttocks or more specifically, the anus.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks, Thesaurus:anus
- 2011 March 12, James Smart, The Guardian:
- As the novel progresses, he is shot in the hand with his own gun, shot in the arse with someone else's and lacerated by a prosthetic weed trimmer.
- 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 131:
- No one, then or now, wanted to drink the mead that came out of Odin's arse.
- 2020 September 9, Jason Chamberlain, “The growing likelihood of a 'different type of railway'”, in Rail, page 45:
- Or to put it in the more colourful language of our Prime Minister: "The secret to improving rail transport, in my view, is you need to find the right arse to kick." Unfortunately, since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2005, the DfT has ostensibly been in direct control of railway policy setting, and this has meant that the only arse the government has been able to kick is its own.
- (chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, slang) A stupid, pompous, arrogant, mean or despicable person.
- 2007, Martin Harrison, The Judgement of Paris, page 282:
- “You're an arse,” Ellen said. ¶ “Please? You must like something about me …?” ¶ “I do. You're an arse. I just told you that. I feel comfy with you, because you're such an arse.”
- 2007, L. A. Wilson, The Silurian: Book One: The Fox and the Bear, page 103:
- He looked at me, was just about to call me an arse, when I told him, “You throw it too hard. Try and think of the javelin hitting the target before you throw it. Let it all go through your mind first, see it, feel it, then throw it.” ¶ “Good advice, you arse,” he said and tried again.
- 2011, Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes, unnumbered page:
- Felnigg. What a suppurating arse. Look at him. Arse.
- (vulgar, slang, uncountable) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.
- (vulgar, slang, metonymically, countable) A person; the self; (reflexively) oneself or one's person, chiefly their body; (by extension) one's personal safety, or figuratively one's job, prospects, etc.
Usage notes
- The form arse (as opposed to ass) and its derivatives are usually used by speakers and writers in preference to ass in Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth countries, though only regionally in Canada (in the Atlantic provinces). Historically arse was also used in New England but the form has now been superseded by ass throughout the US and in the rest of Canada.
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:arse.
Derived terms
Terms derived from arse (noun)
- arse about face
- arse about tit
- arse antlers
- arse bandit
- arse biscuit
- arsebreath
- arse breath
- arsecheek
- arse cheeks
- arsecheeks
- arseclown
- arse crack
- arse-crack
- arsecunt
- arse end
- arse end of nowhere
- arseface
- arse-fuck
- arsefucker
- arseful
- arse has gone clean out of 'er
- arse has gone out of 'er
- arse has gone right out of 'er
- arsehat
- arsehead
- arsehole
- arseholedom
- arseholery
- arseholic
- arsehood
- arse in a sling
- arse is clean out of 'er
- arse is gone right out of 'er
- arse is out of 'er
- arse is right out of 'er
- arse-kisser
- arseless
- arse licker
- arse-licker
- arse-licking
- arse like a Japanese flag
- arseling
- arseload
- arselong
- arseman
- arsemunch
- arseness
- arse over tip
- arse over tit
- arsesmart
- arse-up
- arsewash
- arse-wash
- arsewipe
- arsey/arsy
- arsing
- arsle
- ask my arse
- badarse
- bare-arse
- barearse
- barse
- bite in the arse
- bottle-arse
- bring one's arse to an anchor
- candy-arse
- cauldron arse
- cheap-arse Tuesday
- clever arse
- cold as a well-digger's arse
- cottage cheese arse
- could eat the arse out of a low flying duck
- da arse is gone right out of 'er
- die in the arse
- die on one's arse
- duck-arsed
- duck's arse
- dumbarse
- fart-arse
- get one's arse in gear
- give a rat's arse
- gnat's arse
- grassy arse
- half-arse
- half-arsed
- hang an arse (obsolete)
- hanging out of one's arse
- hard-arse
- in a pig's arse
- jackarse
- kick-arse
- kick arse
- kick up the arse
- kiss arse
- kiss my arse
- kiss someone's arse
- know one's arse from one's elbow
- lardarse
- my arse
- not hit a cow's arse with a banjo
- one's arse off
- open-arse
- pain in one's arse
- pain in the arse
- pop a cap in someone's arse
- pull out of one's arse
- shortarse
- short-arse
- sit on one's arse
- smart-arse
- smart arse
- someone's arse off
- suck arse
- take it up the arse
- talk out of one's arse
- the arse
- think the sun shines out of someone's arse
- tight-arse
- tight as a duck's arse
- up the arse
- whip-arse
- work someone's arse off
- your arse
Descendants
- Sranan Tongo: lasi
Translations
arse — see ass
Verb
arse (third-person singular simple present arses, present participle arsing, simple past and past participle arsed)
- (Commonwealth, slang, intransitive) To be silly, act stupid or mess around.
- Stop arsing around!
- 1985, Sam McAughtry, McAughtry's War, page 10:
- He was university material, just arsing about as a rigger, arsing about, killing time with bohunks like me […] .
- 2005, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, page 291:
- Pi, upset, roars, "Quit arsing around there and get cracking," and a dozen heads turn their way.
- 2011, Jaine Fenn, Bringer of Light, unnumbered page:
- He was half-expecting a call from the lingua, telling him to stop arsing around, but his com stayed silent, so it looked like a certain amount of arsing around was allowed.
Derived terms
- arse about (verb)
- arse around (verb)
- arse up
- half-arsed (adjective)
- can't be arsed
Interjection
arse
- (Commonwealth) An expression of frustration.
- Synonym: bum (euphemistic)
Anagrams
Italian
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Adjective
arse f pl
Participle
arse f pl
Etymology 2
Verb
arse
- third-person singular past historic of ardere
Anagrams
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈar.se/, [ˈärs̠ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈar.se/, [ˈärse]
Participle
arse
Old Irish
Etymology
Univerbation of airi (“for the sake of it; therefore”) + se (“this”)
Pronunciation
Adverb
arse
- therefore, for this/that reason
- Synonym: airi
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12a22
- Ní nád ṁbed arse di chorp, act atá de.
- Not that it might not be therefore of (the) body, but (rather) it is of it
Portuguese
Alternative forms
Noun
arse f (plural arses)
Romanian
Pronunciation
Adjective
arse
- inflection of ars:
Verb
arse
- third-person singular simple perfect indicative of arde
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)s
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)s/1 syllable
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Commonwealth English
- English vulgarities
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- Irish English
- English derogatory terms
- English slang
- English uncountable nouns
- English metonyms
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English interjections
- English swear words
- en:Buttocks
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/arse
- Rhymes:Italian/arse/2 syllables
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Italian past participle forms
- Italian verb forms
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin participle forms
- Old Irish univerbations
- Old Irish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old Irish lemmas
- Old Irish adverbs
- Old Irish terms with quotations
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- pt:Poetry
- pt:Music
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian adjective forms
- Romanian verb forms