Arse is an informal English term referring to the buttocks, which is commonly used in English speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, parts of Canada and former parts of the British Empire. In the United States and other parts of Canada the variant form ass is used. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Bottom commonly refers to the human buttocks but also has other uses. ... The following is a list of sovereign states and territories where English is an official language, in order of population. ... For a comprehensive list of the territories that formed the British Empire, see Evolution of the British Empire. ... Ass may refer to: Look up ass in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Etymology

"Arse", from Old English ærs^[1] "tail, rump," from Proto-Germanic root arsoz (cf. Old Norse ars, Middle Dutch ærs), which meaning ass (see also: arsehole), and by extension the crease between the buttocks of any animal (see also:buttcrack), but especially the human bottom. There are many cognates such as German Arsch, Dutch aars (meaning anus), Scots airse, Swedish arsle or arsel bottom (from earlier ars-hål anus) and Norwegian and Icelandic rass (through metathesis). Greek orros "tail, rump, base of the spine," Hittite arrash, Old Irish err "tail" has been connected with it. Arse or ass, in this sense, has no etymological common root with the word "ass" when it refers to the donkey. Old English redirects here. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... Ass may refer to: Look up ass in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the literal anatomical structure of the anus. ... The gluteal cleft is the groove or crack between the buttocks. ... Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the Anglic language of Scotland. ... Metathesis is a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word. ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ...

The word arse was not always impolite or informal.^{[citation needed]} The Norman Conquest brought about linguistic change in English, affecting the prestige of many native Anglo-Saxon words which referred to private body parts. Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ...

Modern usage

• Until the late 18th century, "ass" presumably had no profane meaning, and simply referred to the animal now mostly known as the donkey. Because of the increasingly non-rhotic nature of standard British English, "arse" was often rendered "ass".^{[citation needed]} However, indirect evidence of the change from arse to ass can be traced back to 1785 (in euphemistic avoidance of ass "donkey" by polite speakers)^{[citation needed]} and perhaps to Shakespeare, if Nick Bottom transformed into a donkey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1594) is such a word-play. This usage was also adopted in America, which is why the word "arse" is not usually used in the United States. The age of Victorian propriety resulted in the renaming of the horse-like animal, changing the name to "donkey" (not recorded in English before 1785, slang, perhaps from dun "dull grey-brown,"^{[citation needed]} the form perhaps influenced by monkey, or possibly from a familiar form of Duncan, cf. dobbin) to avoid any improper inferences. Although before World War I they were similar, the English pronunciations of "ass" IPA: /ˈæs/ and "arse" /ˈɑːs/ are now quite different in many English-speaking countries. Although arse is commonly used in Atlantic Canada, west of the Ottawa river, ass is more idiomatic.^{[citation needed]}

• In addition to its above literal uses to refer to the buttocks (see that article also for synonyms in that sense), "ass" is commonly employed to denote either a) an idiot or stupid person, referring to the alleged stupidity of the donkey, as in: "Don't be such an ass! You're acting like you're five years old!", or pleonastically in "dumb ass"; b) as a short-hand for asshole (itself first attested in 1935), referring to an egoistic person who is acting to make others miserable; or c) a woman regarded as a sexual object, recorded since 1942. In British usage the word is not considered profane so much as coarse—for example, most Britons wouldn't consider it as strong as "shit". However, the word is sufficiently strong that when Prince Harry used it in a 2005 TV interview the event was given significant press coverage, even if very little outright disapproval was expressed^{[citation needed]}. In America it is considered to be a coarser expression and would be frowned upon in polite society, but "arse" is almost never used in the United States, as such—most Americans would assume that the word "ass" was being used.

• It is also a curse-like exclamation, e.g. one of the four catchphrases attributed to the character Father Jack in the Channel 4 TV show Father Ted, in which the said character repeatedly shouts 'ARSE!', and other monosyllabic words of varying coarseness, for no apparent reason. The similar use of "arse" by Bob Fleming's friend Jed Thomas on The Fast Show is a speech impediment.
• Arsebandit, a British English slang term for a male homosexual, is an example of the association of the organ with gay men, regardless of whether or not anal sex is involved.
• Bare-arse or Bare-ass means with the bottom bared, but is also used as a pars pro toto for nudity, especially in a context where it implies full or at least 'strategic' exposure, as for spanking or mooning; a similar expression (for males only) is bare balls. Bare-arsed can also mean impertinent, e.g. about a cheeky act "the bare-arsed cheek of it".
• Arseload or assload to refer to a large but unspecified quantity.
• Arsewipe or asswipe can refer to someone who is unimportant or petty.

Modern synonyms (often euphemisms or dysphemisms) include: Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... For other uses, see A Midsummer Nights Dream (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Approximate worldwide distribution of monkeys. ... Thankyou for the Dobbins for giving them to me. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Bottom commonly refers to the human buttocks but also has other uses. ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ... // Pleonasm is the use of more words (or even word-parts) than necessary to express an idea clearly. ... For other uses, see Asshole (disambiguation). ... HRH Prince Harry of Wales Henry Charles Albert David His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor) (born September 15, 1984), nicknamed Prince Harry, is a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry is third in the line of... Frank Kelly as Father Jack, with his short lived pet brick Father Jack Hackett is a fictional character in the Channel 4 television series Father Ted. ... This article is about the British television station. ... Father Ted was a popular 1990s television situation comedy set around the lives of three priests on the extremely remote (and completely fictional) Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland. ... Bob Fleming is a fictional character played by Charlie Higson in the hit BBC comedy sketch show The Fast Show, which ran for four series between 1994 and 2000. ... The Fast Show is a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for four series from 1994 to 2000. ... Pars pro toto is Latin for (taking) a part for the whole; it is a kind of synecdoche. ... Nude redirects here. ... [1] This article is about the use of spanking as discipline. ... Mooning is the act of displaying ones bare buttocks by removing clothing, e. ... This article is about the anatomical feature. ... A euphemism is a word or phrase used in place of a term that originally could not be spoken aloud (see taboo) or, by extension, terms which they consider to be disagreeable or offensive. ... In language, both dysphemism (from the Greek dys δυς= non and pheme φήμη = speech) and cacophemism (in Greek caco κακό = bad) are rough opposites of euphemism, meaning the usage of an intentionally harsh word or expression instead of a polite one. ...

• Hole, in various compounds including the popular arsehole, often referring to the use of the organ for fecal secretion (as in dung-hole, shit-hole) or for coitus (such as fuck-hole), while boy-hole and man-hole emphasize homosexual practices or simply the anatomical difference from the female.
• Split ("Split-arse or split-ring"), Midlands and North of England - a rare but phonetically potent term of reference used to indicate a female of poor character and worth and reduce her to genitalia only. A common American version with the same meaning is "split-tail".
• "Aris", which is double rhyming slang: Aristotle (bottle), bottle and glass (arse).

This article is about the literal anatomical structure of the anus. ... Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ...

Sources and references

• Etymology OnLine - arse, ass, & donkey
• ScotsDictionary

See also

• Scatolinguistics
• Devil's Arse (cavern)
• Sweere-arse (game)