arsenic

1 of 2

noun

ar·​se·​nic

ˈärs-nik,

ˈär-sə- 

1

: a solid chemical element that is used especially in wood preservatives, alloys, and semiconductors and is extremely toxic in both pure and combined forms see Chemical Elements Table

2

: a poisonous trioxide As₂O₃ or As₄O₆ of arsenic used especially as an insecticide or weed killer

called also arsenic trioxide

arsenic

2 of 2

adjective

ar·​sen·​ic är-ˈse-nik 

: of, relating to, or containing arsenic especially with a valence of five

Examples of arsenic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

And the Tachi Yokuts have been forced to drill deeper and deeper — chasing groundwater so contaminated with arsenic that the nearby elementary school doesn’t serve it to children. —Calmatters, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024

The campus has just one operational water well, and it has been contaminated with high levels of arsenic since at least April 2012, state testing has shown. —Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Apr. 2024

Consumption of lead and arsenic has also been shown to negatively impact neurological development. —Ali Francis, Bon Appétit, 23 Jan. 2024

Depending on how stringent the evaluation criteria applied were, between 23 and 41 percent of the participants did not get a satisfactory result for the determination of total arsenic, and between 25 and 43 percent did not get a satisfactory result for the determination of inorganic arsenic. —Julian Tyson, Discover Magazine, 7 May 2015

Advertisement The groundwater is tainted with toxic arsenic, so the project will also require building a facility to treat the water before sending it flowing back into the California Aqueduct. —Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2023

It can also be detected in animal products treated with some veterinary drugs or shellfish, which aggregate arsenic from seawater. —Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Oct. 2023

Preservation with borax and arsenic affected the intensity of fluorescence, increasing it in certain cases while dampening it in others. —Cara Giaimo, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2023

Heavy metal poisoning occurs when microscopic molecules of metals — like lead, mercury and arsenic — accumulate within your body after exposure, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning include abdominal pain, chills, dehydration, feeling weak, and nausea or vomiting. —Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2023

Adjective

So too is belladonna, nightshade, arsenic and lead. —John Tufts, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Apr. 2024

So, a dentist ordering arsenic, potassium cyanide and oleandrin … What does that suggest to you? —Natalie Morales, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2024

While polluted surface water sickens people quickly, arsenic is a stealth killer. —Laura Paddison, CNN, 22 Mar. 2024

Toxins and heavy metals from human pollution can also build up in white sharks’ bodies—a 2019 study found high levels of mercury and arsenic in white shark blood. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024

In 2021, a congressional investigation found that commercial baby food was tainted with significant levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, prompting the FDA to draft industry guidelines to minimize harm to children. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 24 Nov. 2023

There are bottles with labels of arsenic and poisons and, well, other things. —Dusty Parnell, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024

This property, tucked between the otherworldly cliffs along the Ojo Caliente River, boasts one of the country's only thermal springs with four healing minerals: lithia, soda, arsenic, and iron. —Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 7 Mar. 2024

The permit also will add first-time limitations on salt, arsenic and a group of compounds known as BTEX that are dumped into the water. —Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post, 6 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English arsenek, arsenic "any of various compounds of arsenic, as yellow orpiment (arsenic trisulfide)," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French arsenik, arsneke, borrowed from Latin arrhenicum, arsenicon, borrowed from Greek arsenikón, arrhenikón, probably borrowed from Aramaic zarnīḵ "arsenic" or a cognate Semitic word, borrowed from an unattested form in a Middle Iranian language (whence Persian zarnī, zarnīk "orpiment, arsenic"), a derivative of the word for "gold" (as Manichaean Parthian zrn /zarn/ "gold," zrnyn /zarnēn/ "golden"), alluding to the yellow color of orpiment

Note: The Greek word is assumed to have been reshaped by folk-etymological association with arsenikós, arrhenikós "male, masculine." Aramaic zarnīḵ is attested in a papyrus text (an order to repair a boat) dated January, 411 b.c., found in elephantine, Egypt (see A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C., Oxford, 1923, pp. 88-97; B. Porten, The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Brill, 1996, pp. 115-22); the word is also attested in Syriac a number of centuries later. The Manichaean Parthian forms are from D. Durkin-Meisterernst, Dictionary of Manichaean Texts, vol. III, Part 1, Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, Brepols, 2004. Parthian zrn and zrnyn are continuations of an Old Iranian etymon represented by Avestan zarańiia- "gold"—see note at gold entry 1.

Adjective

from attributive or compound use of arsenic entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1747, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1798, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

arsenic

noun

ar·​se·​nic

ˈärs-nik,

-ᵊn-ik

1

: a solid poisonous element that is commonly metallic steel-gray and brittle see element

2

: a white or transparent extremely poisonous oxide of arsenic used especially in insecticides

Medical Definition

arsenic

1 of 2 noun

ar·​se·​nic ˈärs-nik, -ᵊn-ik 

1

: a trivalent and pentavalent solid poisonous element that is commonly metallic steel-gray, crystalline, and brittle

—symbol As see Chemical Elements Table

2

: arsenic trioxide

arsenic

2 of 2 adjective

ar·​sen·​ic är-ˈsen-ik 

: of, relating to, or containing arsenic especially with a valence of five