arc

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arc¹

  • /ɑːk/ UK
  • /ɑɹk/ US

Sounds like ark · Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

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.

noun arcs

  1. That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon.
  2. A continuous part of the circumference of a circle (circular arc) or of another curve. The arc of a circle may be very little, but, given that, it is possible to construct the entire figure.
  3. A curve, in general. Swing it from side to side in a high arc overhead.

    Similar: curve, swoop

  4. A band contained within parallel curves, or something of that shape.
  5. A flow of current across an insulating medium; especially a hot, luminous discharge either between two electrodes or as lightning.
  6. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of story arc 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.
  7. Internet, broadly 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.
  8. A continuous mapping from a real interval (typically [0, 1]) into a space.
  9. A directed edge.

    Similar: arrow, directed edge

  10. slang The three-point line.
  11. An arclight. For all practical purposes the old carbon arcs, which were the backbone of film lighting, are no longer used.

Similar: circular arc, circle segment

verb arcs · arcing · arcking · arced · arcked

  1. ambitransitive To move following a curved path. A warring bloodhunter detected it and skillfully arced his sword through its spinal column before it could return to follow through with its attack.
  2. transitive To shape into an arc; to hold in the form of an arc. 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.

ARC²

Where it comes from

An abbreviation.

noun ARCs

  1. abbreviation, acronym, countable, uncountable Acronym of advance reader's copy, a copy of a book given to a reviewer free in advance for review purposes. “One of them came up to me in a signing line and asked for a blurb,” says Jen. “Can you believe it? Title I’ve never heard of, from some small press I’ve never heard of, and she comes up to me with a bound ARC, beaming, like of course I’m going to say yes.”
  2. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of AIDS-related complex
  3. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of automatic reference counting

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of American Red Cross

ARC³

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Spanish ARC.

proper noun

  1. The Colombian Navy (Armada de la República de Colombia).

adjective

  1. initialism, not comparable A ship's prefix for warships of the navy of Colombia.

Arc⁴

proper noun

  1. historical A suggested location where the historical figure Joan of Arc, or her father, were from.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: electric arc, electric discharge, arch, spark, bow, curve, discharge, reactor, rainbow, semicircle, spectrum, crs, rca, segment, rcaf, cta

Translations

Every language

noun electric discharge

Españolarco
日本語アーク āku, アーク放電 āku hōden
Portuguêsarco
Françaisarc
DeutschLichtbogen

noun geometry: part of a curve

Españolarco
한국어원호 wonho
日本語円弧 enko
中文弧 hú
Portuguêsarco
Françaisarc de courbe
DeutschBogen, Arkus, Kreisbogen
Italianoarco
Românăarc
Русскийдуга́ dugá, а́рка árka
Tiếng Việtvòng cung
العربيةقَوْس qaws, مُنْحَنَى munḥanā

noun curve

Españolcurva
日本語弧 ko
中文弧形 húxíng
Portuguêscurva
Françaisarc
DeutschBogen, Kurve
Italianoarco
Românăarc
Русскийдуга́ dugá

noun mathematics: mapping

Italianocurva in forma parametrica

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"arc." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/arc. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

arc. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/arc

Chicago

"arc." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/arc.

BibTeX
@misc{arc_2026,
  title = {arc},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/arc},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}