arc - Wikiwand

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arc

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ark, from Old French arc, from Latin arcus (“a bow, arc, arch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷos (“bow, arrow”). Doublet of arch, arco, and arrow.

Pronunciation

(UK) enPR: äk, IPA^(key): /ɑːk/
(US) enPR: ärk, IPA^(key): /ɑɹk/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
Homophone: ark

Noun

arc (plural arcs)

(astronomy) That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon. [from 14th c.]
(geometry) A continuous part of the circumference of a circle (circular arc) or of another curve. [from 16th c.]
A curve, in general. [from 17th c.]
A band contained within parallel curves, or something of that shape. [from 17th c.]
(electrics) A flow of current across an insulating medium; especially a hot, luminous discharge either between two electrodes or as lightning. [from 19th c.]
(narratology) Ellipsis of story arc. [from 20th c.]
- 2015 February 24, Lilian Min, “How the Internet Invented a New Kind of Storytelling”, in The Atlantic‎:
  For while most comics have designated entry points into the story in the form of arcs, Homestuck is one elaborate, self-referencing inside joke collapsed inside its own funhouse mirror reflection.
1. (by extension, Internet slang) A period or phase in a person's life.
  I'm hitting the gym three times a week or more at the moment. I'm in my gym bro arc.
  
  I miss my drawing arc. I feel like I was much more creative back then.
(mathematics) A continuous mapping from a real interval (typically [0, 1]) into a space.
(graph theory) A directed edge.
(basketball, slang) The three-point line.
(film) An arclight.
- 2012, Kris Malkiewicz, Film Lighting:
  For all practical purposes the old carbon arcs, which were the backbone of film lighting, are no longer used.

Synonyms

(curve): curve, swoop
(circular arc): circular arc, circle segment
(directed edge): arrow, directed edge

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Irish: arc
→ Maltese: ark
→ Welsh: arc

Translations

geometry: part of a curve

Arabic: قَوْس (ar) m (qaws), مُنْحَنَى m (munḥanā)
Armenian: աղեղ (hy) (aġeġ)
Azerbaijani: qövs (az)
Catalan: arc (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 弧 (zh) (hú)
Czech: oblouk (cs) m
Danish: bue c
Dutch: boog (nl) m
Esperanto: arko
Finnish: kaari (fi)
French: arc de courbe m
Galician: arco (gl) m
German: Bogen (de) m, Arkus m, Kreisbogen (de) m
Hawaiian: kaula
Hungarian: ív (hu), körív (hu)
Ido: arko (io)
Irish: arc m
Italian: arco (it) m
Japanese: 円弧 (ja) (えんこ, enko)
Korean: 원호 (ko) (wonho)
Latin: arcus (la) m
Malay: lengkung (ms), lengkuk, lengkok
Malayalam: ചാപം (ml) (cāpaṁ)
Maori: pewa
Navajo: názhah
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bue (no) m, boge m

Nynorsk: boge m
Persian: کمان (fa) (kamân)
Polish: łuk (pl) m
Portuguese: arco (pt) m
Romanian: arc (ro) n
Russian: дуга́ (ru) f (dugá), а́рка (ru) f (árka)
Spanish: arco (es) m
Swedish: kurva (sv) c, båge (sv) c
Tagalog: bantok
Turkish: yay (tr), kavis (tr)
Vietnamese: vòng cung

curve

Armenian: աղեղ (hy) (aġeġ)
Bulgarian: дъга (bg) f (dǎga)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 弧形 (zh) (húxíng)
Czech: oblouk (cs) m
Dutch: boog (nl) m
Esperanto: arko
Finnish: kaari (fi)
French: arc (fr) m
Galician: curva (gl) f
German: Bogen (de) m, Kurve (de) f
Hungarian: ív (hu)
Ido: arko (io)
Italian: arco (it) m
Japanese: 弧 (ja) (こ, ko)
Latin: arcus (la) m
Maori: pewa, tāwhana
Navajo: ahééʼídzoh
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bue (no) m, boge m, krumming (no) m or f, krumning (no) m or f, kurve (no) m

Nynorsk: boge m, krumming f, kurve f
Persian: خم (fa) (xam), کمان (fa) (kamân)
Portuguese: curva (pt) f
Quechua: q'iwi
Romanian: arc (ro) n
Russian: дуга́ (ru) f (dugá)
Slovak: oblúk m
Spanish: curva (es) f
Swedish: kurva (sv) c, båge (sv) c
Tagalog: bantok
Turkish: kavis (tr), eğri (tr)

electric discharge

Finnish: valokaari (fi)
French: arc (fr) m
German: Lichtbogen (de) m
Hungarian: ív (hu), ívkisülés
Ido: arko (io)
Japanese: アーク (ja) (アーク, āku), アーク放電 (ja) (アークほうでん, āku hōden)
Malay: arka
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lysbue (no) m

Nynorsk: ljosboge m, lysboge m
Persian: قوس (fa) (qows)
Portuguese: arco (pt) m
Spanish: arco (es) m
Swedish: ljusbåge (sv) c
Turkish: ark (tr)

mathematics: mapping

Finnish: käyrä (fi)
Ido: arko (io)
Irish: arc m
Italian: curva in forma parametrica f
Swedish: kurva (sv) c

directed edge — see directed edge

Verb

arc (third-person singular simple present arcs, present participle arcing or (rare) arcking, simple past and past participle arced or (rare) arcked)

(ambitransitive) To move following a curved path.
- 2008, T. R. Elmore, Blood Ties Series, Volume 1, Tainted, Book 1, page 106:
  A warring bloodhunter detected it and skillfully arced his sword through its spinal column before it could return to follow through with its attack.
- 2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC‎:
  Gatland's side got back to within striking distance when fly-half Jones's clever pass sent centre Jonathan Davies arcing round Shontayne Hape.
- 2024, Patricia Taxxon, “Big Wheel”, in Bicycle:
  The big wheel in the sky
  He arcs o'er miles and miles
(transitive) To shape into an arc; to hold in the form of an arc.
- 1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC, part 1 (The Seventh Day):
  His mother, her eyes raised to heaven, hands arked before her, moving, made real for John that patience, that endurance, that long suffering, which he had read in the Bible and found so hard to image.
(intransitive) To form an electrical arc.