arse
Americannoun
-
arses
plural
noun
-
the buttocks
-
the anus
-
a stupid person; fool
-
sexual intercourse
-
effrontery; cheek
-
to start to do something seriously and quickly
Sensitive Note
In American English, ass in the senses "the buttocks; the rectum" is considered to be a vulgar, impolite usage. The variant arse , which is chiefly British and regarded as vulgar by speakers of British English, seems to some American speakers to be a less vulgar, even daintier term than the more explicit ass . But this may not always be the case in America, so one should be just as cautious about using arse when in a polite setting.
Usage
Dating back at least a thousand years, and taboo till around the middle of the 20th century, this venerable ``Anglo-Saxon'' word now seems unlikely to cause offence in all but the most formal contexts. Its acceptability has possibly been helped by such useful verb formations as ``to arse about'' and ``I can't be arsed''
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of arse
First recorded before 1000; Middle English ars, er(e)s, Old English ærs, ears; cognate with Old Frisian ers, Dutch aars, Old Norse, Middle Low German, Old Saxon, Old High German ars ( German Arsch ), Greek órrhos “rump” (from orso-, which occurs in compounds), Armenian or̄kh, Hittite arras; akin to Greek ourá and Old Irish err “tail.” All of the nouns derive from the Proto-Indo-European root ers-, ors- “backside, buttocks, tail.” Cf. ass 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Speaking on a US comedy show in 2017, Mr Forbes branded the president a "clown", adding: "The only regret I have is I didn't knock him on his arse when I met him".
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025
The Brits are the people who seem to cultivate it more than others and have named its fruit “the cat arse fruit” for obvious reasons.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
Princess Diana's brother on Wednesday refuted former President Donald Trump's claim that his late sister wanted to "kiss his arse."
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2023
“It’s two bald blokes fighting over a comb. Whoever wins will have their arse handed to them by Bayern on Sunday night.”
From The Guardian ● Aug. 18, 2020
For example, all her teachers hate her because Marv was such a smart arse in school.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
"There is no shortage of the corporate manoeuverings, jockeyings for position, eyes on chances and arses being covered that we have come to expect of America's most monstrous family company," she went on.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2021
They’d busted their arses for their kid to go to a grammar school – and to see it from their perspective, the arts were not a way for black people to survive.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2020
No, without wishing to pre-empt the conclusions of questers from Lord Justice Leveson to the Treasury committee to the people sighing "why are our overlords such arses?" into their pints, I can't see it happening.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2012
It is clear what kind of viewer he is aiming at and pandering to from the off, as he promises to get the prisoners "off their arses".
From The Guardian ● Jun. 26, 2012
You’ll watch your sons going around with broken shoes and their arses hanging out of their trousers.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
