art

English Online Dictionary. What means art‎? What does art mean?

Translingual

Symbol

art

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for artificial languages.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English art, from Old French art, from Latin artem, accusative of ars (“art”). Partly displaced native Old English cræft, whence Modern English craft.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑɹt/

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t
• Hyphenation: art

Noun

art (countable and uncountable, plural arts)

1. (uncountable) The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colours, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the senses and emotions, usually specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
2. (uncountable) The creative and emotional expression of mental imagery, such as visual, auditory, social, etc.
3. (countable) Skillful creative activity, usually with an aesthetic focus.

4. (uncountable) The study and the product of these processes.

5. (uncountable) Aesthetic value.

6. (uncountable) Artwork.

7. (countable) A field or category of art, such as painting, sculpture, music, ballet, or literature.

8. (countable) A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.
10. (countable) Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation.
    • 1855, Harriet Martineau's translation, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte Vol. 1, Introduction, Ch. 2, page 21, from Auguste Comte, Cours de philosophie positive (1830–1842)

      The relation of science to art may be summed up in a brief expression: From Science comes Prevision: from Prevision comes Action.
11. (uncountable, dated) Contrivance, scheming, manipulation.

Synonyms

• (Human effort): craft

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “Human effort”): mundacity, nature, subsistence

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• English terms starting with “art”

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: aat
• Tok Pisin: at
• → Japanese: アート (āto)

Translations

Further reading

• art on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Art on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Art on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
• Art on Wikisource.Wikisource
• Art on Wikibooks.Wikibooks

Etymology 2

From Middle English art, from Old English eart (“(thou) art”), second-person singular present indicative of wesan, from Proto-Germanic *art (“(thou) art", originally, "(thou) becamest”), second-person singular preterite indicative form of *iraną (“to rise, be quick, become active”), from Proto-Indo-European *er-, *or(w)- (“to lift, rise, set in motion”).

Cognate with Faroese ert (“art”), Icelandic ert (“art”), Old English earon (“are”), from the same preterite-present Germanic verb. More at are.

Pronunciation

(stressed)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑɹt/

(unstressed)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əɹt/

Verb

art

1. (archaic) second-person singular simple present indicative of be

See also

References

• “art”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• "art" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 40.
• art in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “art”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Hickey, Raymond (1984) “Coronal Segments in Irish English”, in Journal of Linguistics, volume 20, number 2, →DOI, pages 233–250

Anagrams

• Tar, RAT, TRA, ATR, TAR, RTA, rat, rta, tra, 'rat, tar, Rat

Albanian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ars, artem.

Noun

art m (definite arti)

1. art

Declension

Synonyms

• zeje

Further reading

• FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[2], 1980
• Newmark, L. (1999) “art”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary‎^[3]
• “art”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin artem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈart]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈaɾt]
• Rhymes: -aɾt

Noun

art m or f (plural arts)

1. art (something pleasing to the mind)

Usage notes

• Generally masculine in the singular, feminine in the plural.

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

art m (plural arts)

1. fishing net

Derived terms

• artet

Related terms

• bou
• xarxa

Further reading

• “art” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “art”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “art” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “art” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cornish

Etymology

From Latin ars (“art”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɒɹt]

Noun

art m (plural artys)

1. art

Crimean Tatar

Noun

art

1. back

   Synonyms: arqa, sırt

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German art, from Old Saxon *ard, from Proto-Germanic *ardiz, cognate with German Art.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɑˀd̥]
• Homophone: ard

Noun

art c (singular definite arten, plural indefinite arter)

1. kind
2. nature
3. species

Inflection

Descendants

• → Icelandic: art

French

Etymology

From Latin artem, accusative singular of ars.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʁ/

Noun

art m (plural arts)

1. art

Derived terms

Related terms

• artifice
• artificiel
• artisan
• artiste

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: la (< l'art)
• Icelandic: art (f)

Further reading

• “art”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• rat

Icelandic

Etymology

First attested in the 1600s. Borrowed from Danish or Middle High German art, both from Middle Low German ārt, from Old Saxon *ard, from Proto-Germanic *ardiz (“nature, quality, characteristic”). The sense "art" is a borrowing from French art, which is a distant cognate.

Compare Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish art. Doublet of arður.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /art/
• Rhymes: -art

Noun

art f (genitive singular artar, nominative plural artir)

1. (dated) nature, character, disposition [First attested in the 1500s]

   Synonym: náttúrufar (n)

2. wellbeing, growth

   Synonym: þrif (n) [First attested in the 1500s]

3. (obsolete) type [First attested in the 1500s]
4. (obsolete) art

Declension

References

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
• Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “art”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
• “art” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish art, explained in glossaries as “stone”.

Noun

art m (genitive singular airt, nominative plural airt)

1. stone

Declension

Derived terms

• chomh marbh le hart (“stone dead”)

Mutation

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “art”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “art”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic [Term?], from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plow”), from *h₁er- (“sparse; to crumble, to fall to pieces”), whence also the verb irt; see there for more.

Cognates include Lithuanian árti, Old Prussian artoys (“plowman”) (compare Lithuanian artójas), Old Church Slavonic орати (orati), Russian dialectal or dated ора́ть (orátʹ), Belarusian ара́ць (arácʹ), Ukrainian ора́ти (oráty), Bulgarian ора́ (orá), Czech orati, Polish orać, Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan), Old Norse erja, Hittite [Term?] (/⁠ẖarra-⁠/, “to crush; (passive form) to disappear”), [Term?] (/⁠ẖarš-⁠/, “to tear open; to plow”), Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō), Latin arō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [âɾt]

Verb

art (transitive, 1st conjugation, present aru, ar, ar, past aru)

1. to plow (to prepare (land) for sowing by using a plow)

   art zemi ― to plow the land, earth

   art tīrumu, lauku ― to plow a field

   art dārzu ― to plow a garden

   art kūdraino augsni ― to plow the peaty soil

   art ar traktoru ― to plow with a tractor

   papuvi ara divi traktori ― two tractors plowed the fallow (land)

   iziet art agri no rīta ― to go plowing early in the morning

   rudenī, rugāju arot, sekoju Jurim pa vagu un sarunājos ― in autumn, while (he was) plowing the stubble field, I followed Juris along the furrows and talked

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

References

Maltese

Alternative forms

• ard (obsolete)

Etymology

From Arabic أَرْض (ʔarḍ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /art/
• IPA^(key): /aːrt/ (variant, as if spelt *għart)

Noun

art f (plural artijiet or (obsolete) iradi)

1. earth (our planet)

   Synonym: dinja

2. land, ground, soil
3. homeland

   art twelidi ― my homeland

   bla art ― without a homeland

Inflection

Derived terms

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English eart, second person singular of wesan (“to be”), from Proto-Germanic *art, second person singular of *iraną.

Alternative forms

• eart, ert

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /art/

Verb

art

2. second-person singular present indicative of been

Usage notes

This form is more common than bist for the second-person singular.

Descendants

• English: art (archaic, dialectal)
• Yola: yarth, yart

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French art, from Latin artem, accusative form of ars, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥tís.

Alternative forms

• aart, arte

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /art/, (Northern) /aːrt/

Noun

art (plural artes or ars)

1. Knowledge about a field or subject (either academic or trade):
   1. A member of the seven medieval liberal arts (the trivium and quadrivium).
   2. The seven medieval liberal arts collectively.
2. Competence or skill in a particular task.
3. General knowledge, skill, or competence.
4. Deception; misleading behaviour or an instance of it.
5. A code of conduct; a set of behavioural guidelines.
6. (rare) Human behaviour (as opposed to natural occurences).

Descendants

• English: art
• Scots: airt

References

• “art, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Old English eard, from Proto-West Germanic *ard, from Proto-Germanic *ardiz (“nature; type”). Doublet of erd (“nature, disposition”).

Noun

art

2. (Northern) district, locality

Descendants

• Scots: airt
• Yola: ete

References

• “art, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French art.

Noun

art m (plural ars)

1. art

Descendants

• French: art
  • Haitian Creole: la (< l'art)
  • Icelandic: art (f)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

art f or m (definite singular arta or arten, indefinite plural arter, definite plural artene)

1. character, nature, kind
2. (biology) a species

Derived terms

References

• “art” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• rat, tar

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

art m or f (definite singular arten or arta, indefinite plural artar or arter, definite plural artane or artene)

1. (biology) a species
2. character, nature, kind

Derived terms

Related terms

• ard

References

• “art” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• rat, tar

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin ars.

Pronunciation

Noun

art m (plural arts)

1. art

Related terms

• artista

Old English

Verb

art

1. Alternative form of eart

Old French

Etymology

From Latin artem, accusative of ars.

Noun

art oblique singular, m or f (oblique plural arz or artz, nominative singular arz or artz, nominative plural art)

1. art (skill; practice; method)
   • (Can we date this quote?) Walter of Bibbesworth: Le Tretiz, ed. W. Rothwell, ANTS Plain Texts Series 6, 1990. Date of cited text: circa 1250

Descendants

• Middle French: art
  • French: art
    • Haitian Creole: la (< l'art)
    • Icelandic: art (f)
• Norman: art
• Walloon: årt
• → Middle English: art
  • English: art
    • Jamaican Creole: aat
    • Tok Pisin: at
    • → Japanese: アート (āto)
  • Scots: airt

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (art, supplement)
• art on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Etymology and history of “art”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *artos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos. Compare Cornish arth, Welsh arth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ar͈t]

Noun

art m

1. bear

Inflection

Mutation

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• argt
• ragt — with metathesis

Adjective

art

1. strong neuter nominative/accusative singular of argr

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish art, from Middle Low German art, from Old Saxon *ard, from Proto-Germanic *ardiz (“character, nature, inborn quality”).

Pronunciation

Noun

art c

1. species

Declension

References

• art in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• tar

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish آرت (art), آرد (ard) from Proto-Turkic *hārt (“back”). Cognate with Turkish arka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɾt/

Adjective

art

1. hind, rear

   art tekerler ― rear wheels

Synonyms

• arka

Noun

art (definite accusative ardı, plural artlar)

1. back

2. the other side

Declension

Synonyms

• arka

Derived terms