entry
arse
/ɑːs/Vulgar term for buttocks or anus
From Proto-Germanic arse / ars- (buttock).
from PIE root *ors- "buttock, backside" (source also of Greek orros "tail, rump, base of the spine," Hittite arrash ,...
from Proto-Germanic *arsoz (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Norse ars , Middle Dutch ærs , German Arsch...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English ærs, ears
from Middle English ars, ers
Word Ancestry
from PIE root *ors- "buttock, backside" (source also of Greek orros "tail, rump, base of the spine," Hittite arrash ,...
from Proto-Germanic *arsoz (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Norse ars , Middle Dutch ærs , German Arsch...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English ærs, ears
from Middle English ars, ers
This little word has been sitting in the language far longer than its modern rudeness suggests. Long before anyone was hissing it in a pub, speakers of Proto-Indo-European had a blunt little root, *ors-, for the backside; Germanic inherited it, and Old English wrote it as ærs. That same ancient family tree turns up in surprising cousins: German Arsch, Dutch aars, and even a Greek word for tail, orros, all circling the same rear-view image. By the 1630s, English was already using it figuratively in phrases like hang the arse, and later it bred comic mutations like arse over tit. So when someone calls another person an arse today, they are tossing a very old insult—one that has been pointing backward for thousands of years.
The Story
This little word has been sitting in the language far longer than its modern rudeness suggests. Long before anyone was hissing it in a pub, speakers of Proto-Indo-European had a blunt little root, *ors-, for the backside; Germanic inherited it, and Old English wrote it as ærs. That same ancient family tree turns up in surprising cousins: German Arsch, Dutch aars, and even a Greek word for tail, orros, all circling the same rear-view image. By the 1630s, English was already using it figuratively in phrases like hang the arse, and later it bred comic mutations like arse over tit. So when someone calls another person an arse today, they are tossing a very old insult—one that has been pointing backward for thousands of years.
Modern Usage
A stupid, obnoxious, or despicable person; also an exclamation of frustration.
Popularized by: Commonwealth and British English colloquial speech
Notable References
- 'Stop being such an arse'
- 'Arse over tit'
Kin & Kindred
From 'arse / ars-'·buttock, backside
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary