arête

• arete

Borrowed from French arête, from Latin arista. Doublet of arista.

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹɛt/, /əˈɹeɪt/

arête (plural arêtes)

1. (geology) A very thin ridge of rock.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 88:

     In his old department in Zürich, they sit in glass cases: models to the life of the peaks he had studied, with the strata painted beautifully and accurately, passing over arête and valley alike.

• areet, eater, ratee, teare

From Old French areste, from Latin arista.

• IPA^(key): /a.ʁɛt/

  • Audio (Paris, France) (une arête)

    (file)

• (Eastern Quebec) IPA^(key): [a.ˈʁɛtʰ]
• (Western Quebec) IPA^(key): [a.ˈʁɛtʰ] or IPA^(key): [a.ˈʁɛɪ̯tʰ]

In Quebec French, "ê" is pronounced [ɛɪ̯] in closed syllables in most words. In Eastern Quebec, both arête and arrête are among the exemptions from this rule; in Western Quebec only arête is pronounced with /ɛ/, and only by some speakers.

Homophones: arêtes, arrête, arrêtes, arrêtent

arête f (plural arêtes)

1. (zoology) bone (of a fish), fishbone
2. edge (of an object); ridge, crest (of mountain)
3. (architecture) groin (of vault)
4. bridge of nose
5. (botany) beard (of rye, barley etc.); awn
6. (graph theory) edge

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

• ratée