Meanings
plural arsenics · alternative obsolete arsenick
- countableuncountableA toxic grey brittle nonmetallic chemical element (symbol As) with an atomic number of 33.
The mining industry also had a hand in two other rollbacks. One was a decision to withdraw a Clinton rule that reduced by 80 percent the permissible standard for arsenic in drinking water.
2001 April 8, “Environmental Rollbacks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Feb 20221 more example
CSPI says the Trump Administration could take steps to protect consumers from each of these chemicals and support FDA’s broader post-market assessment efforts. It could ensure that FDA sets health-protective limits on heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, and cadmium, in foods consumed by children.
2025 January 15, “FDA moves to eliminate carcinogenic Red 3 from foods”, in Center for Science in the Public Interest, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2025 - countableA single atom of this element.
- countableuncountableArsenic trioxide.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna white powdered poisonous trioxide of arsenic; used in manufacturing glass and as a pesticide (rat poison) and weed killer
nouna very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms; arsenic and arsenic compounds are used as herbicides and insecticides and in various alloys; found in arsenopyrite and orpiment and realgar
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰelh₃-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰl̥h₃enyom
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*ȷ́ʰr̥Hanyam
- Proto-Iranian*jr̥Hanyam
- Old Median*zaranyam
- Old Median*kā
- Old Median*zaraniyakā
- Middle Persian*zarnīk
- Classical Syriacܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā)
- Arabicالزَرْنِيخ (az-zarnīḵ)
- Medieval Greekἀρσενικόν (arsenikón)
- Latinarsenicum
- Middle Frencharsenic
- Middle Englisharsenik
- Englisharsenic
From Middle English arsenik, borrowed from Middle French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum, from Ancient Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikón, “yellow arsenic”) (influenced by ἀρσενικός (arsenikós, “potent, virile”)), from Semitic (compare Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā), Aramaic 𐡆𐡓𐡍𐡉𐡊𐡀 (zrnykʾ /zarnīḵā/)), from Middle Iranian *zarnīk (compare Persian زرنیخ (zirnīx /zernix, zarnīx /zarnix, “arsenic”), زرنی (zurnī /zorni), Bakhtiari زرنیق (zarniq)), from Old Median *zaraniyakā (compare Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬀 (zaraniia, “golden”), Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎴𐎡𐎹 (d-r-n-i-y /daraniya-/, “gold”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (híraṇya, “gold”), Persian زر (zar, “gold”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. More at yellow.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans arseen
- arseenchemical element
Arabic زِرْنِيخ m or زَرْنِيخ
- زِرْنِيخ m or زَرْنِيخ (zirnīḵ)chemical element
Basque artseniko
- artsenikochemical element
Bengali আর্সেনিক
- আর্সেনিক (arśenik)chemical element
Brazilian Portuguese arsênio, arsênico
- arsêniochemical element
- arsênicoof, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5
Bulgarian арсе́н, арсеник
- арсе́н (arsén)chemical element
- арсеник (arsenik)arsenic trioxide
- мишеморка (mišemorka)arsenic trioxide
- арсенов (arsenov)of, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5
Catalan arsènic
- arsènicchemical element
Chinese Mandarin 砷, 砒
- 砷 (shēn)chemical element
- 砒 (pī)chemical element
- 砒霜 (pīshuāng)arsenic trioxide
- 信石 (xìnshí)arsenic trioxide
- 紅礬 /红矾 (hóngfán)arsenic trioxide
Czech arzen
- arzenchemical element
Danish arsen
- arsenchemical element
Dutch arseen, arsenicum
- arseenchemical element
- arsenicumchemical element
Esperanto arseno, arseniko
- arsenochemical element
- arsenikoarsenic trioxide
Estonian arseen
- arseenchemical element
European Portuguese arsénio, arsénico
- arséniochemical element
- arsénicoof, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5
Finnish arseeni, arsenikki
- arseenichemical element
- arsenikkiarsenic trioxide
- arseenitrioksidiarsenic trioxide
French arsenic
- arsenicchemical element
German Arsen
- Arsenchemical element
Greek αρσενικό
- αρσενικό (arsenikó)chemical element
Hebrew אַרְסֶן, זַרְנִיךְ
- אַרְסֶן (arsén)chemical element
- זַרְנִיךְ (zarních)chemical element
Hindi नैपाली, आर्सेनिक
- नैपाली (naipālī)chemical element
- आर्सेनिक (ārsenik)chemical element
- हरताल (hartāl)chemical element
Hungarian arzén
- arzénchemical element
Icelandic arsen
- arsenchemical element
Irish airsnic, arsnaig
- airsnicchemical element
- arsnaigchemical element
- arsanaicchemical element
Italian arsenico, arsinico
- arsenicochemical element
- arsinicoof, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5
Japanese ヒ素, 砒素
- ヒ素 (hiso)chemical element
- 砒素 (hiso)chemical element
- 砒霜石arsenic trioxide
- 砒石 (hiseki)arsenic trioxide
Korean 비소
- 비소 (biso)chemical element
Latin arsenicum
- arsenicumchemical element
Latvian arsēns
- arsēnschemical element
Lithuanian arsenas
- arsenaschemical element
Malay arsenik, arsen
- arsenikchemical element
- arsenchemical element
Norwegian Bokmål arsen
- arsenchemical element
Persian آرسنیک, زرنیخ
- آرسنیک (ârsenik)chemical element
- زرنیخ (zarnix)chemical element
- زرنیک (zarnik)chemical element
- زرنی (zarni)chemical element
- مرگ موش (marg-e muš)chemical element
Polish arsen, trójtlenek arsenu
- arsenchemical element
- trójtlenek arsenuarsenic trioxide
- arszenikarsenic trioxide
- arsenowyof, or containing arsenic with a valence of 5
Punjabi ਸੰਖੀਆ, ਅਰਸਨਿਕ
- ਸੰਖੀਆ (saṅkhīā)chemical element
- ਅਰਸਨਿਕ (arasnik)chemical element
Romanian arsen
- arsenchemical element
Russian мышья́к, арсе́никум
- мышья́к (myšʹják)chemical element
- арсе́никум (arsénikum)chemical element
- мышьяко́вистый ангидри́д (myšʹjakóvistyj angidríd)arsenic trioxide
- бе́лый мышья́к (bélyj myšʹják)arsenic trioxide
Scottish Gaelic arsnaig
- arsnaigchemical element
Slovak arzén
- arzénchemical element
Spanish arsénico, trióxido de arsénico
- arsénicochemical element
- trióxido de arsénicoarsenic trioxide
Swahili asenia
- aseniachemical element
Swedish arsenik
- arsenikchemical element
Tagalog basikut
- basikutchemical element
Tamil பாசாணம், பிறாக்காண்டம்
- பாசாணம் (pācāṇam)chemical element
- பிறாக்காண்டம் (piṟākkāṇṭam)chemical element
- அரசன் (aracaṉ)chemical element
Thai สารหนู, อาร์เซนิก
- สารหนู (sǎan-nǔu)chemical element
- อาร์เซนิก (aa-see-nìk)chemical element
Turkish arsenik, sıçanotu
- arsenikchemical element
- sıçanotuchemical element
- arsenik trioksitarsenic trioxide
Ukrainian миш'я́к, арсе́н
- миш'я́к (myšʺják)chemical element
- арсе́н (arsén)chemical element
Urdu نیپالی, آرسینک
- نیپالی (naipālī)chemical element
- آرسینک (ārsenik)chemical element
Vietnamese asen
- asenchemical element
Welsh ársenig
- ársenigchemical element
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
arsenic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arsenic
“arsenic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arsenic. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arsenic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arsenic.
Source: arsenic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.