arche
/ˈɑː(ɹ)ki/
arche noun: the first principle of existing things in pre-Socratic philosophy, initially assumed to be of water.
Noun
arche (countable and uncountable, plural archai)
- The first principle of existing things in pre-Socratic philosophy, initially assumed to be of water.
- In more modern times both the moving and the matter moved appear more complex and malleable, and less drawn from the realm of everyday experience. The substance may be dark matter and quarks rather than water or air, and the arche may be gravity or string harmonics.2012, Lydia Pyne, Stephen J. Pyne, chapter 3, in The Last Lost World, Penguin, →ISBN
Proper noun capitalized: Arche
Arche
Forms of arche
| plural | archai |
|---|
Origin of arche
From Ancient Greek ἀρχή (arkhḗ, literally “beginning, origin”).
Borrowed from Latin Archē, from Ancient Greek Ἀρχή (Arkhḗ), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”).
Words that rhyme with arche
Questions about arche
- What does arche mean?
- Arche means the first principle of existing things in pre-Socratic philosophy, initially assumed to be of water.
- What part of speech is arche?
- Arche can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce arche?
- Arche is pronounced /ˈɑː(ɹ)ki/.
- What is the plural of arche?
- The plural of arche is archai.
Words near arche in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: arche (page history and authors); Arche (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)-Vealhurl-arche.wav.
Cite this entry: “arche.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arche. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.