Meanings
plural arcades
- architectureA row of arches.
The walk down to the Underground station is equally easy, as you pass through the restored undercroft along an arcade of two-way spanning 'quadripartite' arches.
2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: London Bridge”, in RAIL, number 948, page 31 - architectureA covered passage, usually with shops on both sides.
- abbreviationclippingClipping of amusement arcade.
present singular third person arcades · participle present arcading · participle past arcaded · past arcaded
- transitiveTo cover (something) as with a series of arches.
1 more example
[…] its trottoirs brick-paved and shaded by trees of almost tropical foliage—conspicuous among them the odoriferous magnolia, and the melia azedarach, or “Pride of China”—these in places completely arcading the streets—the town of Nachitoches offered the aspect of a rus in urbe, or urbs in rure, whichever way you may wish it.
1873, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “A Choice of Sons-in-Law”, in The Death Shot. A Romance of Forest and Prairie. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 224
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna structure composed of a series of arches supported by columns
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂erkʷ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂erkʷos
- Proto-Italic*arkuos
- Latinarcus
- Italianarcata
- Frencharcade
- Englisharcade
Unadapted borrowing from French arcade, from Italian arcata (“the arch of a bridge”), from Latin arcus (“an arc”). Not etymologically related to Arcadia.
More words from French, Italian, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek στοά
- στοά (stoá)row of arches
Bulgarian арка́да, паса́ж
- арка́да (arkáda)row of arches
- паса́ж (pasáž)covered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Catalan arcada, porxada
- arcadarow of arches
- porxadarow of arches
Chinese Mandarin 拱廊
- 拱廊 (gǒngláng)row of arches
Czech arkáda, pasáž
- arkádarow of arches
- pasážcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Danish arkade
- arkaderow of arches
Dutch winkelpassage
- winkelpassagecovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Esperanto arkado
- arkadorow of arches
Finnish kaarikäytävä, arkadi
- kaarikäytävärow of arches
- arkadirow of arches
- kauppakujacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- pasaasicovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
French arcade, galerie marchande
- arcaderow of arches
- galerie marchandecovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
German Arkade, Laube
- Arkaderow of arches
- Laubecovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Greek στοά
- στοά (stoá)covered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Hungarian árkád, árkád
- árkádrow of arches
- árkádcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Indonesian arkade, lorong kedai
- arkaderow of arches
- lorong kedaicovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- arkadecovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Italian arcata, loggiato
- arcatarow of arches
- loggiatorow of arches
- porticatorow of arches
- porticocovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- porticatocovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- sottoporticocovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Japanese アーケード, 商店街
- アーケード (ākēdo)row of arches
- 商店街 (shōtengai)covered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Korean 아케이드
- 아케이드 (akeideu)row of arches
Malay arked
- arkedrow of arches
Norwegian Bokmål arkade
- arkaderow of arches
Persian ساباط, طاقی
- ساباط (sâbât)row of arches
- طاقی (tāqi)row of arches
- دالان (dālān)row of arches
- کوتار (kutār)row of arches
- پاساژ (pâsâž)covered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Polish arkada, pasaż
- arkadarow of arches
- pasażcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- galeriacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- arkadacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Portuguese arcada, galeria
- arcadarow of arches
- galeriacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- arcadacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Romanian arcadă, arcadă
- arcadărow of arches
- arcadăcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- pasajcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Russian арка́да, пасса́ж
- арка́да (arkáda)row of arches
- пасса́ж (passáž)covered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Spanish arcada, galería
- arcadarow of arches
- galeríacovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
- galería comercialcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Swedish arkad
- arkadrow of arches
Turkish arkat, pasaj
- arkatrow of arches
- pasajcovered passage, usually with shops on both sides
Vietnamese cửa tò vò
- cửa tò vòrow of arches
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with arcade
Anagrams
Cite this entry
arcade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arcade
“arcade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arcade. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arcade,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arcade.
Source: arcade on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.