It’s time to target another pair of Spanish nouns which are similar in form but whose meaning is entirely different depending on their ending and gender. This week it’s the turn of masculine arco and feminine arca.
Arco with an -o (masculine) is pronounced as follows:
Un arco (masculine) is often something with a curved structure. It may be an arc, as in the geometrical curve between two points:
En la superficie de una esfera, la distancia más corta entre dos puntos es el arco de círculo que pasa por ellos.
The shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere is the arc of the circle that goes through them.
El vehículo describió un arco sobre el Océano Pacífico
The vehicle described an arc over the Pacific Ocean.
Un arco may also be an arch, whether that’s a built structure or a natural one:
debajo de los arcos del Coliseo
under the arches of the Coliseum
un puente de un solo arco
a single-arch bridge
los arcos plantares
the arches of the feet
Un arco may be a bow, as in the weapon used by an archer to fire arrows:
Defenderemos nuestro territorio aunque sea con arcos y flechas.
We will defend our land even if it’s with bows and arrows.
Un arco may also be the bow drawn across the strings of an instrument by a violinist, cellist or viola player:
Vibran las cuerdas bajo el arco.
The strings vibrate beneath the bow.
And did you know that un arcoíris is a rainbow?
todos los colores del arco iris
all the colours of the rainbow
In football, el arco can mean the goal, as in the area into which players try to shoot the ball.
las redes del arco
the goal net
You can listen to the pronunciation of feminine noun arca below:
A common meaning of arca is chest (in the box/furniture sense) or coffer.
Although arca is feminine, it is one of a small group of nouns (whose stress falls on the first a, á, ha or há) which in the singular use the masculine articles el and un rather than la and una to avoid a clash of sounds:
Nunca se atrevió a destapar el arca.
He never dared open the chest.
Levantó la tapa de un arca.
She lifted the lid of a chest.
Despite the use of el and un when a singular article immediately precedes them, nouns like arca are still feminine, so any adjectives describing them take feminine endings:
Guardaba sus cartas en un arca perfumada.
She kept his letters in a scented chest.
el arca labrada
the carved chest
In the plural, arcas (just like the other members of the set) takes normal feminine plural articles since there’s no clash of sounds:
las arcas familiares
the family coffers
la realidad de unas arcas públicas cada vez más vacías
the reality of increasingly empty public coffers
Arca also means ark, as in Noah’s ark:
el arca de Noé
Noah’s ark
el arca bíblica
the biblical ark
La paloma regresó al arca con una rama de olivo.
The dove returned to the ark with an olive branch.
To lift the lid on another pair of nouns whose meaning varies substantially depending on their gender and ending, come back next week.
