# arc
## Translingual
### Symbol

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

### See also

* Wiktionary's coverage of Aramaic terms

## English
### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) enPR: äk, IPA: /ɑːk/
* (US) enPR: ärk, IPA: /ɑɹk/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
* Homophone: ark

### Noun

arc (plural arcs)
* (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.]
* (geometry) A continuous part of the circumference of a circle (circular arc) or of another curve. [from 16th c.]
* A curve, in general. [from 17th c.]
* A band contained within parallel curves, or something of that shape. [from 17th c.]
* (electrics) A flow of current across an insulating medium; especially a hot, luminous discharge between either two electrodes or as lightning. [from 19th c.]
* (narratology) A story arc. [from 20th c.]
** 2015 February 24, Lilian Min, “How the Internet Invented a New Kind of Storytelling”, in The Atlantic‎: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.
* (mathematics) A continuous mapping from a real interval (typically [0, 1]) into a space.
* (graph theory) A directed edge.
* (basketball, slang) The three-point line.
* (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.

#### Synonyms

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

#### Derived terms

* arc blast
* arc-boutant
* arc-connected
* arc converter
* arc cosecant
* arc cosine
* arc cotangent
* arcdegree
* arc elasticity
* arc eye
* arc fault
* arc-fault circuit interrupter
* arc flash
* arc-form pearly mussel
* arc-hyperbolic function
* arcjet
* arc lamp
* arc-lamp
* arclength
* arclet
* arc light
* arclike
* arcminute
* arc minute
* arcover
* arc-over
* arc resistance
* arc secant
* arc second
* arc-second
* arcsecond
* arc spring
* arc transmitter
* arcual
* arcweld
* arc weld
* arc welder
* arc welder's disease
* arc welding
* backarc
* behind the arc
* biarc
* carbon arc
* character arc
* circumhorizontal arc
* diurnal arc
* electric arc
* electric arc furnace
* forearc
* great-circle arc
* great circle arc
* hyperarc
* island arc
* mercury arc rectifier
* minute of arc
* multiarc
* nocturnal arc
* oxyarc
* penalty arc
* Poulsen arc
* redemption arc
* redemptive arc
* reflex arc
* second of arc
* semiarc
* subarc
* subhelic arc
* tropical arc

#### Descendants

* → Irish: arc
* → Maltese: ark
* → Welsh: arc

#### Translations
### Verb

arc (third-person singular simple present arcs, present participle arcing or arcking, simple past and past participle arced or arcked)
* (transitive, intransitive) 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: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 (lyrics and music), “Big Wheel”, in Bicycle:The big wheel in the sky He arcs o'er miles and miles
* (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.
* (intransitive) To form an electrical arc.

#### Derived terms

* arc up
* nonarcing

#### Related terms

* arch

### Further reading

* “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.

### Anagrams

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

## Catalan
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈark]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈaɾk]
* Audio (Catalonia):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɾk

### Noun

arc m (plural arcs)
* bow (weapon)
* (music) bow (used to play string instruments)
* (geometry) arc
* (architecture) arch

#### Derived terms

* arc de Sant Martí
* arc de triomf
* arc iris
* arcada
* arcar
* arcbotant
* arquejar
* arquer

### See also

* fletxa

### Further reading

* “arc” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “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.

## French
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aʁk/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

arc m (plural arcs)
* bow (weapon)
* arc (curve)
* (geometry) arc, circular arc, circle segment
* (architecture) arch
* (fiction) story arc

#### Derived terms

* arc à poulies
* arc de cercle (“arc (of a circle)”)
* arc de courbe (“arc (of a curve)”)
* arc de triomphe (“triumphal arch”)
* arc électrique
* arc insulaire
* arc long anglais
* arc réflexe
* arc-en-ciel (“rainbow”)
* arceau
* avoir plus d’une corde à son arc
* lampe à l’arc (“arc-lamp”)
* tir à l’arc (“archery”)

### See also

* flèche f
* arche f

### Further reading

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

### Anagrams

* car

## Friulian
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin arcus.

### Noun

arc m (plural arcs)
* bow (weapon)
* (architecture) arch

#### Related terms

* arcâ

### See also

* frece

## Hungarian
### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɒrt͡s]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒrt͡s

### Noun

arc (plural arcok)
* (anatomy) face
    Synonyms: (informal) kép, (colloquial) pofa
* (anatomy) cheek
* (figuratively) sight, view, aspect, appearance
* (slang, often following jó) chap, guy, dude, bloke, fellow

#### Derived terms

* arcátlan
* arcocska
* arctalan
* arculat
* arcú
* arcápolás
* arcbőr
* arccsont
* arcél
* arcfesték
* arcfestés
* arcfintor
* arcforma
* arcideg
* arcizom
* arckép
* arckifejezés
* arckoponya
* arckrém
* arcpirító
* arcpirosító
* arctisztító
* arcüreg
* arcvonás
* arcszín
* arcszőrzet
* álarc
* babaarc
* faarc
* pókerarc
* arca verítékével
* arcokat vág
* arcon csókol
* arcot vág
* arcra borul
* arcról arcra
* arcul csap
* arcul üt

### References

* ↑ arc in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)
* ↑ arc in Tótfalusi, István. Magyar etimológiai nagyszótár (’Hungarian Comprehensive Dictionary of Etymology’). Budapest: Arcanum Adatbázis, 2001; Arcanum DVD Könyvtár →ISBN

### Further reading

* arc in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: 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).

## Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aɾˠk/

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Irish orc, arc (“piglet”).

#### Noun

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)
* piglet
* diminutive animal or person

##### Alternative forms

* earc

##### Synonyms

* arcachán
* arcadán

### Etymology 2

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

#### Noun

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)
* (mathematics, geometry) arc

##### Derived terms

* arclampa (“arc-lamp”)

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

arc m (genitive singular airc, nominative plural airc)
* Alternative form of earc (“lizard; reptile”)

### Declension

bare forms
case
singular
plural
nominative
arc
airc
vocative
a airc
a arca
genitive
airc
arc
dative
arc
airc
forms with the definite article
case
singular
plural
nominative
an t-arc
na hairc
genitive
an airc
na n-arc
dative
leis an arc don arc
leis na hairc :

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* 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

## Occitan
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin arcus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aɾk/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

arc m (plural arcs)
* bow
* arch, arc

#### Derived terms

* arca
* arcada
* arcadon
* arcadura
* arcana
* arcanèl
* arcar
* arcaròl
* arcbalèsta
* arcelar
* arcelàs
* arcolan
* arquet
* arquetar
* arquièr

## Old French
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin arcus.

### Noun

arc oblique singular, m (oblique plural ars, nominative singular ars, nominative plural arc)
* bow (a weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string)
* (architecture) arch

#### Coordinate terms

* (bow): saete

#### Descendants

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

## Old High German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ark/

### Adjective

arc
* Alternative form of arg

### References

* Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer

## Romanian
### Etymology

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

### Noun

arc n (plural arcuri)
* bow (a weapon)
* (architecture) arch

#### Declension
### Noun

arc n (plural arce)
* (geometry) arc

#### Derived terms

* arcadă
* arcan
* arcaș
* arcatură
* arcui
* arcuibil
* arcuire
* arcuit
* arcuitură
* arculeț
* arcuș

#### Related terms

* arcar

#### See also

* săgeată

## Scottish Gaelic
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /arxk/
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Noun

arc m
* (obsolete) sow
* (obsolete) piglet
* (obsolete) lizard
* (obsolete) body
* (obsolete) dwarf
* (obsolete) bear
* (obsolete) stag, hind
* (obsolete) collection
* (obsolete) hero

### Noun

arc f
* (obsolete) bee, wasp
* (obsolete) impost, tax
* (obsolete) "Femen." (clarification of this definition is needed)

### References

* 1 2 arc in Edward Dwelly (1911) “arc”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN; accessed on 7 May 2015.

## Welsh
### Etymology

From English arc.

### Noun

arc m (plural arcau)
* (sciences, mathematics) arc

### References

* 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