arabesque
/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/
arabesque noun: an elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.
Noun
arabesque (plural arabesques)
- An elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.
- The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ;[…]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- An ornate composition, especially for the piano.
- A dance position in which the dancer stands on one leg, with the other raised backwards, and the arms outstretched.
- Elaborate or ornate creations in general.
- It was a sort of scene which Adam had beheld almost weekly for years; he knew by heart every arabesque flourish in the framed specimen of Bartle Massey’s handwriting which hung over the schoolmaster’s head, by way of keeping a lofty ideal before the minds of his pupils; […].1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXI, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC
- For a man who condemned worldly pleasures he ate with elegance. She loved to watch the arabesque of fingers and two forks.1995, Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, 25th Anniversary edition, William Morrow, published 2020, →ISBN, pages 8–9
Verb
arabesque (third-person singular simple present arabesques, present participle arabesquing, simple past and past participle arabesqued)
- To move in an arabesque motion.
- To decorate with an arabesque pattern.
arabesque meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Persian
arabesque in Tamil
- அராபிய வண்ணச்சித்திர வேலை, தொடர்வண்ண இசைப்பாட்டு, ஆடல் நிலைவகை, அராபிய முறை சார்ந்த, விசித்திரமான, பூப்பின்னல் சித்திரவேலை
arabesque in Bengali
- জটিল ও অলংকৃত নকশা
arabesque in Persian
- ornamental design used in Islamic Art
- اسلیمی eslimi
Forms of arabesque
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | arabesques |
| alternative form (obsolete) | arabesk |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | arabesques |
| present participle | arabesquing |
| past participle | arabesqued |
| past | arabesqued |
Origin of arabesque
Borrowed from French arabesque, from Italian arabesco, from arabo (“Arab”). By surface analysis, Arab + -esque.
Words formed from arabesque
Questions about arabesque
- What does arabesque mean?
- Arabesque means an elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.
- What is arabesque in Tamil?
- Arabesque in Tamil is அராபிய வண்ணச்சித்திர வேலை, தொடர்வண்ண இசைப்பாட்டு, ஆடல் நிலைவகை. See Arabesque meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is arabesque?
- Arabesque can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce arabesque?
- Arabesque is pronounced /ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/.
- What is the plural of arabesque?
- The plural of arabesque is arabesques.
Words near arabesque in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: arabesque (page history and authors); arabesque (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); arabesque (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-arabesque.wav.
Cite this entry: “arabesque.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arabesque. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.