Other forms: arses
Arse is a coarse British word for the buttocks. Sit on your arse, a kick up the arse, get off your arse.
It is mildly vulgar rather than shocking, and it is very common in British and Irish speech. The American form is ass, which in Britain still mainly means a donkey. The phrasal uses are everywhere: arse about, meaning to waste time; can't be arsed, meaning entirely unwilling; and arse over tit, meaning head over heels. Note that arse is unusable in any formal setting and entirely ordinary in a pub.
1nounarseThe buttocks, in coarse British use.
“He has not got off his arse since about Tuesday.”
arse is a body part.
Old English aers descends from a Proto-Indo-European root for the backside that also gives Greek orros. It is one of the oldest words in the language and has been rude for most of that time.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁órsos — backside, buttocks
Proto-Germanic
*arsaz
Proto-West Germanic
*ars
Old English
ærs
Middle English
ars
English, today
arse
From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic ars, from Proto-Germanic arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European h₁órsos (“backside, buttocks”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA