arm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The part of the body from the shoulder to the hand.

   She broke her arm falling off her bike.

2. 2
   noun

   The part of a chair, sofa, or other object that supports or resembles an arm.

   He rested his elbow on the arm of the chair.

3. 3
   noun

   The part of a piece of clothing that covers the arm.

   The arm of his jacket was torn.

4. 4
   verb

   To provide someone with weapons.

   The rebels were armed with rifles and explosives.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Arm has two historically distinct routes into English, though both may ultimately share an Indo-European root. The body-part word is inherited from Old English through Germanic, whereas the weapons sense entered medieval English through French from Latin arma, “weapons, armour, military action, or implements.” The Latin branch also produced words such as armour, armature, armistice, and, through Spanish, armadillo.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *h₂érmos Proto-Germanic *armaz Proto-West Germanic *arm Old English earm Middle English arm English arm From Middle English arm, from Old English earm (Anglian arm), from Proto-West Germanic *arm, from Proto-Germanic *armaz (“arm”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rmos (“a fitting, joint; arm, forequarter”), a suffixed form of *h₂er- (“to join, fit together”). Cognates Akin to Dutch arm, German Arm, Yiddish אָרעם (orem), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish arm. Indo-European cognates include Latin armus (“the uppermost part of the arm, sho…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary