arsenic
/ˈɑː(ɹ).sə.nɪk//ˈɑɹsənɪk/
arsenic noun: a toxic grey brittle nonmetallic chemical element (symbol As) with an atomic number of 33.
Noun
arsenic (countable and uncountable, plural arsenics)
- A toxic grey brittle nonmetallic chemical element (symbol As) with an atomic number of 33.
- The mining industry also had a hand in two other rollbacks. One was a decision to withdraw a Clinton rule that reduced by 80 percent the permissible standard for arsenic in drinking water.2001 April 8, “Environmental Rollbacks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2022
- CSPI says the Trump Administration could take steps to protect consumers from each of these chemicals and support FDA’s broader post-market assessment efforts. It could ensure that FDA sets health-protective limits on heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, and cadmium, in foods consumed by children.2025 January 15, “FDA moves to eliminate carcinogenic Red 3 from foods”, in Center for Science in the Public Interest, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2025
- A single atom of this element.
- Arsenic trioxide.
Adjective
UK/ɑː(ɹ)ˈsɛnɪk/US/ɑɹˈsɛnɪk/
arsenic (not comparable)
- Of or containing arsenic with a valence of 5.
arsenic meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
arsenic in Hindi
- chemical element
- नैपाली naipālī, आर्सेनिक ārsenik, हरताल hartāl
arsenic in Tamil
- chemical element
- பாசாணம் pācāṇam, பிறாக்காண்டம் piṟākkāṇṭam, அரசன் aracaṉ
arsenic in Urdu
- chemical element
- نیپالی naipālī, آرسینک ārsenik
arsenic in Bengali
- chemical element
- আর্সেনিক arśenik
More languagesFewer languages
- arsenic in Malayalam
- പാഷാണം pāṣāṇaṁ
- arsenic in Kannada
- ನಂಜು, ವಿಷ, ಪಾಷಾಣ
- arsenic in Punjabi
- ਸੰਖੀਆ saṅkhīā, ਅਰਸਨਿਕ arasnik
- arsenic in Tagalog
- basikut
- arsenic in Arabic
- زِرْنِيخ m or زَرْنِيخ zirnīḵ
- arsenic in Malay
- arsenik, arsen
- arsenic in Persian
- آرسنیک ârsenik, زرنیخ zarnix, زرنیک zarnik, زرنی zarni
- arsenic in Thai
- สารหนู sǎan-nǔu, อาร์เซนิก aa-see-nìk
- arsenic in Vietnamese
- asen
- arsenic in Myanmar
- စိန်ဖြူ cinhpru, စိန် cin
Examples of arsenic in a sentence
- The water sample to be tested has been spiked with arsenic, antimony, mercury, and lead in quantities commonly found in industrial effluents.
- Thankfully, arsenic, strong acids, and the like have long ago been removed from the dentist’s formulary.
- Bone char, therefore, would not be very practical for fluoride waters that also contain arsenic.
Forms of arsenic
| plural | arsenics |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | arsenick |
Origin of arsenic
From Middle English arsenik, borrowed from Middle French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum, from Ancient Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikón, “yellow arsenic”) (influenced by ἀρσενικός (arsenikós, “potent, virile”)), from Semitic (compare Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā), Aramaic 𐡆𐡓𐡍𐡉𐡊𐡀 (zrnykʾ /zarnīḵā/)), from Middle Iranian *zarnīk (compare Persian زرنیخ (zirnīx /zernix, zarnīx /zarnix, “arsenic”), زرنی (zurnī /zorni), Bakhtiari زرنیق (zarniq)), from Old Median *zaraniyakā (compare Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬀 (zaraniia, “golden”), Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎴𐎡𐎹 (d-r-n-i-y /daraniya-/, “gold”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (híraṇya, “gold”), Persian زر (zar, “gold”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. More at yellow.
Words formed from arsenic
- arsenic acid
- arsenic anhydride
- arsenic sulphide
- sulfarsenic acid
- sulpharsenic acid
- sulfoarsenic acid
- sulphoarsenic acid
- antimonial arsenic
- armangite
- arsane
- arsanilic
- arsenate
- arsenene
- arsenetted
- arsenian
- arseniate
- arseniated
- arsenicane
- arsenicate
- arsenicated
- arsenic bloom
- arsenic diiodide
- arsenic dioxide
- arsenic diphosphide
- arsenic disulfide
- arsenic disulphide
- arsenic glass
- arsenic hemiselenide
- arsenicised
- arsenicized
- arsenicism
- arsenicite
- arsenicize
- arsenic monophosphide
- arsenic monoxide
- arsenic monoxide monochloride
- arsenicophagy
- arsenic oxybromide
- arsenic oxychloride
- arsenic pentachloride
- arsenic pentafluoride
- arsenic pentaoxide
- arsenic pentaselenide
- arsenic pentasulfide
- arsenic pentoxide
- arsenic sesquioxide
- arsenic tetrachloride fluoride
- arsenic tetraoxide
- arsenic tetrasulfide
- arsenic tribromide
- arsenic trichloride
- arsenic trifluoride
- arsenic trihydride
- arsenic triiodide
- arsenic trioxide
- arsenic triphosphide
- arsenic triselenide
- arsenic trisulfide
- arsenic trisulphide
- arsenide
Phrases with arsenic
Questions about arsenic
- What does arsenic mean?
- Arsenic means a toxic grey brittle nonmetallic chemical element (symbol As) with an atomic number of 33.
- What is arsenic in Hindi?
- Arsenic in Hindi is नैपाली (naipālī), आर्सेनिक (ārsenik), हरताल (hartāl). See Arsenic meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is arsenic?
- Arsenic can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce arsenic?
- Arsenic is pronounced /ˈɑː(ɹ).sə.nɪk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of arsenic?
- The plural of arsenic is arsenics.
Words near arsenic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: arsenic (page history and authors); പാഷാണം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); arsenic (Kannada 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)-Tesco250-arsenic.wav, En-us-arsenic.ogg.
Cite this entry: “arsenic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arsenic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.