Meanings
plural Joans of Arc · plural Joan of Arcs
- figurativelyA brave, visionary, or martial woman.
And they're the ones that put you down/ 'Cause they got no heart / But I'm the one that will follow you / You're my Joan of Arc
2013, Arcade Fire, “Joan of Arc”, in Reflektor3 more examples
At the heart of the matter lies a simple truth. It is that Joans of Arc, to fulfill the most shining symmetries of their destinies, should not grow interminably old. The fiery leader of the Fighting French in 1940 looks a trifle better, in perspective, than the recent candidate for re-election who lunged down from his pedestal to wrestle for votes.
1966 January 27, Charles Poore, “Books of The Times: General de Gaulle Is Wired for History”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLCVolatile yet stubborn, self-interested yet a modern Joan of Arc—criticisms of Richardson were as contradictory as they claimed her to be.
2020, Lindsay Harroff, “From Sitting In to Sitting Out: Gloria Richardson and the 1963 Cambridge Movement”, in Lesli K. Pace, Sean Patrick O'Rourke, editors, Like Wildfire: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Sit-Ins, page 204Digressing a bit, the mission statement of this chapter is to illustrate the example set for all of us by the Joan of Arcs of today—women who serve in Special Operations in particular, and the military in general […]
2021, Steve Giblin, Jon Land, Walking in Mud: A Navy SEAL’s 10 Rules for Surviving the New Normal, unnumbered page
Origin
- FrenchJeanne d'Arc
- EnglishJoan of Arc
Appellativisation of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), the name of a 15th century French folk heroine revered as a martyr. Further etymology The name itself is a calque of French Jeanne d'Arc. According to surviving signatures, her Old French given name was Jehanne, feminine form of Jehan (cognate in English to John). In the English language, her first name has been repeated as Joan since the fifteenth century because that was the only English equivalent for the feminine form of John during her lifetime, Jane not being attested until later. She did not come from a place called Arc; d'Arc was attributed because of her father's surname, which was most likely Darc. Apostrophes were never used in fifteenth-century French surnames, which sometimes leads to confusion when analyzing such names. See Wikipedia (Name of Joan of Arc) for more.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Joan of Arc. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Joan%20of%20Arc
“Joan of Arc.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Joan%20of%20Arc. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Joan of Arc,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Joan%20of%20Arc.
Source: Joan of Arc on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.