arse

See also: ARSE and arşe

English

Alternative forms

• ass (US)

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, US) IPA^(key): /ɑɹs/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)s

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (CA)

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

arse (plural arses)

1. (current in South Africa, UK, Ireland, Canada (regional), Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, dated in New England, now vulgar) The buttocks or more specifically, the anus.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks, Thesaurus:anus

   • 2011, James Smart, The Guardian, 12 March:

     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.

   • 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.

2. (chiefly UK, derogatory slang) A stupid, mean or despicable person.
   • 2007, Martin Harrison, The Judgement of Paris, p.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, p.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.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:arse.

Derived terms

Terms derived from arse (noun)

• arse bandit
• arseface
• arse is gone right out of 'er
• arsehat
• arsehole
• arseman
• arsewash
• arsey/arsy
• arsing
• duck's arse
• duck-arsed
• hang an arse (obsolete)
• kick arse
• kiss my arse
• know one's arse from one's elbow
• smart arse
• tight-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)

1. (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)
• half-arsed (adjective)
• can't be arsed

Anagrams

• AREs, Ares, EARs, ERAs, Ersa, SERA, Sear, ares, ears, eras, rase, reas, sare, sear, sera

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈar.se/
• Rhymes: -arse
• Hyphenation: àr‧se

Etymology 1

Adjective

arse f pl

1. feminine plural of arso

Participle

arse f pl

1. feminine plural of arso

Etymology 2

Verb

arse

1. third-person singular past historic of ardere

Anagrams

• Ares, rase, resa, sera

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈar.se/, [ˈärs̠ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈar.se/, [ˈärse]

Participle

arse

1. vocative masculine singular of arsus

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Old Irish

Etymology

Univerbation of airi (“for the sake of it; therefore”) +‎ se (“this”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈar͈ʲsʲe/

Adverb

arse

1. 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. 12^a22

     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

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• ársis

Noun

arse f (plural arses)

1. (poetry, music) arsis (the stronger part of a measure or foot)

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈarse]

Adjective

arse

1. inflection of ars:
   1. genitive/dative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/genitive/dative feminine/neuter plural

Verb

arse

1. third-person singular simple perfect indicative of arde