Etymology

arse

A1R1S1E1

Today it means: A person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside. Also: the anus; the rectum. Full definition →

Middle English ars ← Old English ærs ← Proto-West Germanic *ars
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*h₁órsos“backside, buttocks”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*arsaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*ars
  4. Old English · inherited fromærs
  5. Middle English · inherited fromars
  6. English todayarse

From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.