arsenic

See also: arsènic and arsénic

English

Alternative forms

• arsenick (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃enyomder.

Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ʰr̥Hanyam

Proto-Iranian *jr̥Hanyam

Old Median *zaranyam

Old Median *kā

Old Median *zaraniyakāder.

Middle Persian *zarnīkbor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā)der.

Arabic الزَرْنِيخ (az-zarnīḵ)bor.

Byzantine Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikón)der.

Latin arsenicumder.

Middle French arsenicbor.

Middle English arsenik

English arsenic

From Middle English arsenik, borrowed from Middle French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum, from Ancient Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikón, “yellow arsenic”) (influenced by ἀρσενικός (arsenikós, “potent, virile”)), from Semitic (compare Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā), Aramaic 𐡆𐡓𐡍𐡉𐡊𐡀 (zrnykʾ /⁠zarnīḵā⁠/)), from Middle Iranian *zarnīk (compare Persian زرنیخ (zirnīx / zernix, zarnīx / zarnix, “arsenic”), زرنی (zurnī / zorni), Bakhtiari زرنیق (zarniq)), from Old Median *zaraniyakā (compare Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬀 (zaraniia, “golden”), Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎴𐎡𐎹 (d-r-n-i-y /⁠daraniya-⁠⁠⁠/, “gold”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (híraṇya, “gold”), Persian زر (zar, “gold”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. More at yellow.

Chemical element
As
Previous: germanium (Ge)
Next: selenium (Se)

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ).sə.nɪk/
• (US) enPR: ärʹsən-ĭk, IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹsənɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Adjective

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɑː(ɹ)ˈsɛnɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: är-sĕnʹĭk, IPA^(key): /ɑɹˈsɛnɪk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

arsenic (countable and uncountable, plural arsenics)

2. A toxic grey brittle nonmetallic chemical element (symbol As) with an atomic number of 33.
   • 2025 January 15, “FDA moves to eliminate carcinogenic Red 3 from foods”, in Center for Science in the Public Interest‎^[1]:

     CSPI says the Trump Administration could take steps to protect consumers from each of these chemicals and support FDA’s broader post-market assessment efforts. It could ensure that FDA sets health-protective limits on heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, and cadmium, in foods consumed by children.

3. (countable) A single atom of this element.
4. Arsenic trioxide.

Derived terms

• antimonial arsenic
• armangite
• arsane
• arsanilic
• arsenate
• arsenene
• arsenetted
• arsenian
• arseniate
• arseniated
• arsenicane
• arsenicate
• arsenicated
• arsenic bloom
• arsenic diiodide
• arsenic dioxide
• arsenic diphosphide
• arsenic disulfide, arsenic disulphide
• arsenic glass
• arsenic hemiselenide
• arsenicised, arsenicized
• arsenicism
• arsenicite
• arsenicize
• arsenic monophosphide
• arsenic monoxide
• arsenic monoxide monochloride
• arsenicophagy
• arsenic oxybromide
• arsenic oxychloride
• arsenic pentachloride
• arsenic pentafluoride
• arsenic pentaoxide
• arsenic pentaselenide
• arsenic pentasulfide
• arsenic pentoxide
• arsenic sesquioxide
• arsenic tetrachloride fluoride
• arsenic tetraoxide
• arsenic tetrasulfide
• arsenic tribromide
• arsenic trichloride
• arsenic trifluoride
• arsenic trihydride
• arsenic triiodide
• arsenic trioxide
• arsenic triphosphide
• arsenic triselenide
• arsenic trisulfide
• arsenic trisulphide
• arsenide
• arseniferous
• arsenious
• arsenite
• arseniuret
• arseno-
• arsenoan
• arsenous
• arsine
• arsole
• arsonium
• butter of arsenic
• diarsenic
• flowers of arsenic
• iridarsenite
• iron arsenic sulfide
• melarsoprol
• native arsenic
• nickel arsenic sulfide
• organoarsenic
• pentaarsenic
• platarsite
• pyroarsenic
• radioarsenic
• red arsenic
• sulfide of arsenic, sulphide of arsenic
• sulphoarsenic
• tetraarsenic
• triarsenic
• trihydride of arsenic
• white arsenic
• white arsenic oxide
• yellow arsenic

Related terms

• arsenical
• arsenicosis
• arsenicum album
• arsenous
• arsphenamine
• neoarsphenamine, neosalvarsan
• sulfarsin, sulpharsin

Translations

chemical element

• Afrikaans: arseen (af)
• Albanian: rëzëgojë ?
• Arabic: زِرْنِيخ m (zirnīḵ) or زَرْنِيخ m (zarnīḵ)
• Armenian: արսեն (hy) (arsen), մկնդեղ (hy) (mkndeġ), զառիկ (hy) (zaṙik)
• Asturian: arsénicu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: arsen (az)
• Basque: artseniko (eu)
• Belarusian: мыш'я́к m (myšʺják), аршэннік m (aršeńnik)
• Bengali: আর্সেনিক (bn) (arśenik)
• Breton: arsenik m
• Bulgarian: арсе́н (bg) m (arsén)
• Burmese: စိန်ဖြူ (my) (cinhpru), စိန် (my) (cin)
• Catalan: arsènic (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 砷 (zh) (shēn), 砒 (zh) (pī) (obsolete)

• Cornish: arsenik m, arsenyk m
• Czech: arzen (cs) m
• Danish: arsen (da) n
• Dutch: arseen (nl) n, arsenicum (nl) n
• Esperanto: arseno (eo)
• Estonian: arseen (et)
• Faroese: arsenikk n
• Finnish: arseeni (fi)
• French: arsenic (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: arsenikum ?

• Friulian: arsenic ?
• Galician: arsénico (gl) m
• Georgian: დარიშხანი (darišxani)
• German: Arsen (de) n
• Greek: αρσενικό (el) n (arsenikó)
• Hebrew: אַרְסֶן (he) m (arsan), זַרְנִיךְ m (zarních)
• Hindi: नैपाली (hi) f (naipālī), आर्सेनिक m (ārsenik), हरताल (hi) f (hartāl)
• Hungarian: arzén (hu)
• Icelandic: arsen (is) n
• Ilocano: basikut
• Interlingua: arsenico
• Irish: airsnic f, arsnaig f, arsanaic (ga) f
• Italian: arsenico (it) m
• Japanese: ヒ素 (ja) (ひそ, hiso), 砒素 (ja) (ひそ, hiso)
• Kashubian: arszelnik ?
• Kazakh: күшән (kk) (küşän)
• Khmer: អាសេនិក (ʼaaseenɨk)
• Korean: 비소(砒素) (ko) (biso)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دارو (daru)

• Kyrgyz: мышьяк (mışyak)
• Lao: ສານຫມູ (sān mū), ສານໜູ (sān nū)
• Latin: arsenicum (la) n
• Latvian: arsēns m
• Lingala: aseni class 9a/10a
• Lithuanian: arsenas (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Arsen ?
• Macedonian: арсен (mk) m (arsen)
• Malay: arsenik, arsen
• Maltese: arseniku m
• Manx: arsnick m
• Mongolian: хүнцэл (mn) (xüncel)
• Norman: arsénîn m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arsen (no) n

  Nynorsk: arsen (nn) n

• Occitan: arsenic (oc) m
• Persian: آرسنیک (fa) (ârsenik), زرنیخ (fa) (zarnix), زرنیک (zarnik), زرنی (zarni), مرگ موش (marg-e muš)
• Polish: arsen (pl) m
• Portuguese:

  Brazilian Portuguese: arsênio (pt) m

  European Portuguese: arsénio (pt) m

• Punjabi: ਸੰਖੀਆ (pa) m (saṅkhīā), ਅਰਸਨਿਕ m (arasnik)
• Romanian: arsen (ro) n
• Russian: мышья́к (ru) m (myšʹják), арсе́никум m (arsénikum)
• Scottish Gaelic: arsnaig f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀рсе̄н m

  Latin: àrsēn (sh) m

• Slovak: arzén (sk) m
• Slovene: arzen (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: arsen m

  Upper Sorbian: arsen m

• Spanish: arsénico (es) m
• Swahili: asenia
• Swedish: arsenik (sv) c
• Tagalog: basikut
• Tajik: арсен (arsen)
• Tamil: பாசாணம் (pācāṇam), பிறாக்காண்டம் (piṟākkāṇṭam), அரசன் (ta) (aracaṉ)
• Thai: สารหนู (th) (sǎan-nǔu), อาร์เซนิก (th) (aa-see-nìk)
• Tibetan: བ་བླ (ba bla)
• Turkish: arsenik (tr), sıçanotu (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: صیچان اوتی (sıçan otu)

• Turkmen: myşýak
• Ukrainian: миш'я́к m (myšʺják), арсе́н m (arsén)
• Urdu: نیپالی f (naipālī), آرسینک m (ārsenik)
• Uyghur: ئارسىن (arsin), مەرگىمۇش (mergimush), سەنكىيا (senkiya)
• Uzbek: myşyák, margimush (uz)

  Cyrillic: мышьяк (uz)

• Vietnamese: asen (vi)
• Volapük: larsenin (vo)
• Welsh: ársenig m

arsenic trioxide

• Bulgarian: арсеник m (arsenik), мишеморка f (mišemorka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 砒霜 (zh) (pīshuāng), 信石 (zh) (xìnshí), 紅礬 / 红矾 (zh) (hóngfán)

• Esperanto: arseniko (eo)
• Finnish: arsenikki (fi), arseenitrioksidi (fi)
• Japanese: 砒霜石 (ひそうせき hisouseki), 砒石 (ja) (hiseki)
• Polish: trójtlenek arsenu m, arszenik (pl) m
• Russian: мышьяко́вистый ангидри́д m (myšʹjakóvistyj angidríd), бе́лый мышья́к m (bélyj myšʹják)
• Spanish: trióxido de arsénico m
• Turkish: arsenik trioksit

Adjective

arsenic (not comparable)

1. (chemistry) Of or containing arsenic with a valence of 5.

Derived terms

• arsenic acid
• arsenic anhydride
• arsenic sulphide
• pyroarsenic
• sulfarsenic acid, sulpharsenic acid
• sulfoarsenic acid, sulphoarsenic acid
• sulphoarsenic

Translations

of, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5

• Bulgarian: арсенов (arsenov)
• Italian: arsinico (it)
• Manx: arsnagh
• Polish: arsenowy (pl)
• Portuguese:

  Brazilian Portuguese: arsênico (pt)

  European Portuguese: arsénico (pt)

See also

• aqua Tofana
• arsenious
• auri pigmentum
• cobaltite
• erythrite
• Fowler’s solution
• king’s yellow
• Marsh test
• mimetite
• mispickel
• orpiment
• Paris green
• realgar
• red orpiment
• ruby sulfur, ruby sulphur
• thorin

Anagrams

• carnies, scarine, carines, scenari, cerasin, Racines, sarcine, Cairnes, arcsine, Serican

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin arsenicum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʁ.sə.nik/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

arsenic m (uncountable)

1. arsenic (chemical element)
   • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[2], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:

     — À côté! s'écria madame Homais en joignant les mains. De l'arsenic? Tu pouvais nous empoisonner tous!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• oxyde blanc d'arsenic

Descendants

• Lingala: aseni

Further reading

• “arsenic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• cernais, enciras, encrais, racines, ricanes, ricanés

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin arsenicum.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

arsenic m (uncountable)

1. arsenic

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum.

Noun

arsenic n (uncountable)

1. arsenic

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	arsenic	arsenicul
genitive-dative	arsenic	arsenicului
vocative	arsenicule