ass
ass Lexical Profile
ass Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American The buttocks or the rear end of the body.
"She slipped on the icy sidewalk and fell flat on her ass."
A foolish, stupid, or stubborn person.
"He made an absolute ass of himself by arriving at the formal dinner in a clown costume."
A hoofed mammal of the horse family (Equidae), typically smaller than a horse with longer ears and a braying call; a donkey.
"The farmers used a sturdy ass to carry the heavy loads up the rocky mountain trail."
Word Nuance & Usage
The anatomical sense is highly informal and often considered vulgar, originating as a North American phonetic variant of the British 'arse'.
• Rhymes for ass
Word Origin & Etymology
The animal sense comes from Old English 'assa', derived from Latin 'asinus'. The anatomical sense is a linguistic variant of 'arse', from Old English 'ærs'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.