arc

arc

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Aramaic.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Aramaic terms

Inherited from Middle English ark, from Old French arc, from Latin arcus (“a bow, arc, arch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷos (“bow, arrow”). Doublet of arch, arco, and arrow.

• (UK) enPR: äk, IPA^(key): /ɑːk/
• (US) enPR: ärk, IPA^(key): /ɑɹk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
• Homophone: ark

arc (plural arcs)

1. (astronomy) That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon. [from 14th c.]
2. (geometry) A continuous part of the circumference of a circle (circular arc) or of another curve. [from 16th c.]
3. A curve, in general. [from 17th c.]
4. A band contained within parallel curves, or something of that shape. [from 17th c.]
5. (electrics) A flow of current across an insulating medium; especially a hot, luminous discharge either between two electrodes or as lightning. [from 19th c.]
6. (narratology) Ellipsis of story arc. [from 20th c.]
   • 2015 February 24, Lilian Min, “How the Internet Invented a New Kind of Storytelling”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     For while most comics have designated entry points into the story in the form of arcs, Homestuck is one elaborate, self-referencing inside joke collapsed inside its own funhouse mirror reflection.

   1. (by extension, Internet slang) A period or phase in a person's life.

      I'm hitting the gym three times a week or more at the moment. I'm in my gym bro arc.

      I miss my drawing arc. I feel like I was much more creative back then.

7. (mathematics) A continuous mapping from a real interval (typically [0, 1]) into a space.
8. (graph theory) A directed edge.
9. (basketball, slang) The three-point line.
10. (film) An arclight.
    • 2012, Kris Malkiewicz, Film Lighting:

      For all practical purposes the old carbon arcs, which were the backbone of film lighting, are no longer used.

• (curve): curve, swoop
• (circular arc): circular arc, circle segment
• (directed edge): arrow, directed edge

• → Irish: arc
• → Maltese: ark
• → Welsh: arc

arc (third-person singular simple present arcs, present participle arcing or arcking, simple past and past participle arced or arcked)

1. (ambitransitive) To move following a curved path.
   • 2008, T. R. Elmore, Blood Ties Series, Volume 1, Tainted, Book 1, page 106:

     A warring bloodhunter detected it and skillfully arced his sword through its spinal column before it could return to follow through with its attack.

   • 2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC‎^[3]:

     Gatland's side got back to within striking distance when fly-half Jones's clever pass sent centre Jonathan Davies arcing round Shontayne Hape.

   • 2024, Patricia Taxxon, “Big Wheel”, in Bicycle:

     The big wheel in the sky
     He arcs o'er miles and miles

2. (transitive) To shape into an arc; to hold in the form of an arc.
   • 1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC, part 1 (The Seventh Day):

     His mother, her eyes raised to heaven, hands arked before her, moving, made real for John that patience, that endurance, that long suffering, which he had read in the Bible and found so hard to image.

3. (intransitive) To form an electrical arc.

• arch

• “arc”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “arc”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “arc”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• CAR, CRA, Car, RAC, RCA, acr-, car, rac-

Inherited from Latin arcus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷo-.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈark]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈaɾk]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾk

arc m (plural arcs)

1. bow (weapon)
2. (music) bow (used to play string instruments)
3. (geometry) arc
4. (architecture) arch

• fletxa

• “arc”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “arc”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “arc” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “arc” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Inherited from Old French arc, from Latin arcus (“bow, arch”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷo-.

• IPA^(key): /aʁk/

• Audio:

  (file)

arc m (plural arcs)

1. bow (weapon)
2. arc (curve)
3. (geometry) arc, circular arc, circle segment
4. (architecture) arch
5. (fiction) story arc

• flèche f
• arche f

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

• car

Inherited from Latin arcus.

arc m (plural arcs)

1. bow (weapon)
2. (architecture) arch

• arcâ

• frece

An archaic compound word of orr (“nose”) and száj (“mouth”), via Proto-Finno-Ugric elements. The original form of these two words was or and szá, the compound word orszá. Over time, the final vowel became short (orsza), the sz changed to c (orca), today a poetic or archaic version. The next change was the initial o to a (arca) which felt as a possessive form and later shortened to the current term.^[1][2]

• IPA^(key): [ˈɒrt͡s]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒrt͡s

arc (plural arcok)

1. (anatomy) face

   Synonyms: (informal) kép, (colloquial) pofa

2. (anatomy) cheek
3. (figuratively) sight, view, aspect, appearance
4. (slang, often following jó) chap, guy, dude, bloke, fellow

• arc in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• arc in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

• IPA^(key): /aɾˠk/

From Old Irish orc (“piglet”).

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)

1. piglet
2. diminutive animal or person

• earc

• arcachán
• arcadán

From Anglo-Norman arc, from Latin arcus (“a bow, arc, arch”).

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)

1. (mathematics, geometry) arc

• arclampa (“arc-lamp”)

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)

1. alternative form of earc (“lizard; reptile”)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “arc”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 orc (‘young pig’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Inherited from Latin arcus.

• IPA^(key): /aɾk/

• Audio:

  (file)

arc m (plural arcs)

1. bow
2. arch, arc

Inherited from Latin arcus.

arc oblique singular, m (oblique plural ars, nominative singular ars, nominative plural arc)

1. bow (a weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string)
2. (architecture) arch

• (bow): saete

• French: arc
• → Middle English: ark, arke
  • English: arc
    • → Irish: arc
    • → Maltese: ark
    • → Welsh: arc

• IPA^(key): /ark/

arc

1. alternative form of arg

• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer

Inherited from Latin arcus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷo-.

arc n (plural arcuri)

1. bow (a weapon)
2. (architecture) arch

arc n (plural arce)

1. (geometry) arc

• arcar

• săgeată

• IPA^(key): /arxk/

From Old Irish orc (“piglet”).

arc m (obsolete)

1. sow^[1]
2. piglet

From Old Irish erc (“speckled animal”).

arc m (obsolete)

1. lizard
2. stag, hind

arc f

1. bee, wasp^[1]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

arc m (obsolete)

1. body
2. dwarf
3. bear
4. collection
5. hero

arc f

1. impost, tax

From English arc.

arc m (plural arcau)

1. (sciences, mathematics) arc

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “arc”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies