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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

arse.

A person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside. Also: the anus; the rectum.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɑːs/Received-Pronunciation/ɐːs/Australia, New-Zealand/aɹs/Ireland, Scotland/äːɹs/Ireland, Scotland
  1. A person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside. Also: the anus; the rectum.

    Commonwealth · vulgar
  2. A stupid, pompous, arrogant, mean or despicable person.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · derogatory · slang · vulgar
  3. Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.

    slang · uncountable · vulgar
  4. 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.

    countable · metonymically · slang · vulgar
Where this word comes from

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

verb/ɑːs/Received-Pronunciation/ɐːs/Australia, New-Zealand/aɹs/Ireland, Scotland/äːɹs/Ireland, Scotland
  1. To be silly, act stupid or mess around.

    Commonwealth · intransitive · slang · vulgar
    Stop arsing around!
Where this word comes from

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

intj/ɑːs/Received-Pronunciation/ɐːs/Australia, New-Zealand/aɹs/Ireland, Scotland/äːɹs/Ireland, Scotland
  1. An expression of frustration.

    Commonwealth · vulgar
Where this word comes from

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 *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.