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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

arch

/ɑɹtʃ/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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End with the ch sound in “chair.”

Arch has one syllable and ends with /tʃ/, the ch of chair. Compare it with archetype, whose ch sounds like k. Let the American r lead straight into the final consonant.

1 syllable

TRY SAYING
We walked beneath the stone arch.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does arch mean?

noun

  1. An inverted U shape.
  2. An arch-shaped arrangement of trapezoidal stones, designed to redistribute downward force outward.
  3. An architectural element having the shape of an arch
More meanings (14)

noun

  1. Any place covered by an arch; an archway.
  2. A natural arch-shaped opening in a rock mass.
  3. The curved part of the bottom of a foot.
  4. Synonym of god (“person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon”).
  5. An architecture; a computer architecture or instruction set architecture.
  6. (archaic) An arc; a part of a curve.
  7. (obsolete) A chief.

verb

  1. To form into an arch shape.
  2. To cover with an arch or arches.

adjective

  1. Knowing, clever, mischievous.
  2. Cute, sly, prematurely wise.
  3. Principal; primary.
  4. Initialism of autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity

proper noun

  1. A diminutive of the male given names Archibald and Archie.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ɑɹtʃ/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ɑɹk/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Thea, too, was drowsy, and lay looking through halfclosed eyes up at the blazing blue arch over the rim of the canyon.
Willa CatherThe Song of the LarkProject Gutenberg ebook #44
The tyrannous and bloody act is done, The most arch deed of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of.
William ShakespeareThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg ebook #100
More book examples (3)
After another week of rain the high arch of blue sky appeared again and the sun which poured down was quite hot.
Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Secret GardenProject Gutenberg ebook #113
He and I seemed to be the only living things between the huge arch of the sky and the desert beneath it.
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Hound of the BaskervillesProject Gutenberg ebook #3070
The duodenum proceeded from the depression marking the lesser arch of the organ midway between the cardiac orifice and the right extremity.
George M. (George Milbrey) Gould; Walter L. (Walter Lytle) PyleAnomalies and Curiosities of MedicineProject Gutenberg ebook #747