arse
What does “arse” mean in English?
A vulgar reference to the backside, specifically the buttocks.
Literally “buttocks”
Commonly used in British English, it’s similar to 'ass' in American English. It can be used both literally and figuratively, often in a light-hearted or mildly insulting context.
Take it with you
Wear it. Stick it. Drink from it.
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Related English words
crap
2/5 · CoarseIt's a mild way to refer to rubbish, nonsense, or something of poor quality. Literally, it means excrement.
piss
2/5 · CoarseIt refers to urine, but it's commonly used as a verb for urination. It can also show annoyance or frustration in various expressions.
shithole
3/5 · VulgarA very unpleasant place, often used to describe a rundown or undesirable location. Literally, it's a 'hole full of excrement.'
crappy
2/5 · CoarseIt describes something that is of poor quality or unpleasant. Essentially, it's a way to say something is not good enough.
About this data
Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.
The literal gloss is a short editorial translation to show word-for-word sense, not an etymological claim.
“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.
Term attested via 4troDev/profanity.csv, Viddexa SafeText, LDNOOBW (MIT, CC-BY-4.0). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.