arena

See also: Appendix:Variations of "arena"

Languages (21)

English

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Aragonese • Asturian • Catalan • Dutch • Galician • Indonesian • Italian • Latin • Mirandese • Neapolitan • Northern Sami • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Polish • Portuguese • Sardinian • Scots • Serbo-Croatian • Spanish • Swedish

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Page categories

English

A modern arena.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arēna (“sand; arena”), from earlier harēna, from Old Latin hasēna, possibly from Etruscan; compare Sabine fasēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹiːnə/, [əˈɹʷɪi̯nə]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnə
• Hyphenation: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena (plural arenas or arenae)

1. An enclosed area, often outdoor, for the presentation of sporting events (sports arena) or other spectacular events; earthen area, often oval, specifically for rodeos (North America) or circular area for bullfights (especially Hispanic America).

   A large crowd filled the seats of the arena.

2. The building housing such an area; specifically, a very large, often round building, often topped with a dome, designated for indoor sporting or other major events, such as concerts.

   The arena is grey with white beams.

3. (historical) The sand-covered centre of an amphitheatre where contests were held in Ancient Rome.

   The gladiators entered the arena.

4. A realm in which events take place; an area of interest, study, behaviour, etc.

   The company was a player in the maritime insurance arena.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:

     But transects have also been utilised in a large variety of arenas, including surveying the contents of Amerindian earthen mounds, determining levels of anti-rabies vaccinations in village dogs, and examining ecological factors under the canopy of trees growing in agricultural areas.

   • December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 December 2021:

     To Musk, his vast fortune is a mere side effect of his ability not just to see but to do things others cannot, in arenas where the stakes are existential.

Derived terms

• arena football
• arenaful
• arena ice
• arenalike
• arena rock
• arenic
• arenulous
• descend into the arena
• Point Arena
• subarena

Descendants

• → Canadian French: aréna

Translations

an enclosed area, often outdoor

• Albanian: arenë (sq) f
• Arabic: صَالَة f (ṣāla), حَلْبَة f (ḥalba)
• Armenian: ասպարեզ (hy) (asparez), արենա (hy) (arena)
• Belarusian: арэ́на f (aréna)
• Bulgarian: аре́на (bg) f (aréna)
• Catalan: arena (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 舞臺 / 舞台 (zh) (wǔtái) (also traditional Chinese variant), 阿雷納 / 阿雷纳 (āléinà), 競技場 / 竞技场 (zh) (jìngjìchǎng)

• Czech: aréna f
• Danish: arena c
• Esperanto: areno
• Estonian: areen (et)
• Finnish: areena (fi), kenttä (fi)
• French: arène (fr) f
• Galician: arena (gl) f
• Georgian: არენა (arena)
• German: Arena (de) f
• Greek: αρένα (el) f (aréna)
• Hebrew: זִירָה (he) f (zirá)
• Hindi: अखाड़ा (hi) m (akhāṛā)
• Hungarian: aréna (hu)
• Ido: areno (io)
• Irish: airéine f
• Italian: arena (it) f
• Japanese: 闘技場 (とうぎじょう, tōgijō), アリーナ (ja) (arīna), 土俵 (ja) (どひょう, dohyō) (especially sumo)
• Khmer: សង្វៀន (km) (sɑngviən)
• Korean: 아레나 (arena), 투기장(投機場) (tugijang), 경기장(競技場) (ko) (gyeonggijang)
• Lao: ເວທີ (wē thī), ສະໜາມ (sa nām)
• Latin: harēna f, arēna f, lusorium n
• Latvian: arēnā f
• Lithuanian: arena (lt) f
• Macedonian: аре́на f (aréna)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arena m

  Nynorsk: arena m

• Persian: آرنا (ârenâ), سالن (fa) (sâlon)
• Polish: arena (pl) f
• Portuguese: arena (pt) f
• Romanian: arenă (ro) f
• Russian: аре́на (ru) f (aréna)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: аре́на f

  Latin: aréna (sh) f

• Slovak: aréna f
• Slovene: arena f
• Spanish: arena (es) f, ruedo (es) m, palestra (es) f, redondel (es) m, albero (es) m, palenque (es) m, liza (es) f
• Swedish: arena (sv) c
• Tamil: அரங்கம் (ta) (araṅkam)
• Thai: เวที (th) (wee-tii), สนาม (th) (sà-nǎam)
• Turkish: arena (tr), saha (tr)
• Ukrainian: аре́на (uk) f (aréna)
• Vietnamese: sân khấu (vi), vũ đài (vi)

the building housing such an area — see also stadium

• Esperanto: areno
• Finnish: areena (fi)
• French: aréna (fr) f
• German: Arena (de) f
• Hungarian: aréna (hu)
• Indonesian: gelanggang (id)
• Irish: airéine f
• Portuguese: arena (pt) f
• Romanian: arenă (ro) f
• Russian: аре́на (ru) f (aréna)
• Spanish: arena (es) f
• Tamil: அரங்கம் (ta) (araṅkam)

the sand-covered centre of an amphitheatre

• Albanian: arenë (sq) f
• Finnish: areena (fi)
• French: arène (fr) f
• German: Arena (de) f
• Hungarian: aréna (hu)
• Italian: arena (it) f
• Persian: آرنا (ârenâ)
• Polish: arena (pl) f
• Portuguese: arena (pt) f
• Romanian: arenă (ro) f
• Russian: аре́на (ru) f (aréna)
• Turkish: arena (tr)

a realm in which important events unfold

• Albanian: arenë (sq) f
• Catalan: arena (ca) f
• Danish: arena c
• Finnish: kenttä (fi), areena (fi), ala (fi)
• French: arène (fr) f
• German: Bühne (de) f
• Irish: saol m
• Italian: teatro (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arena m

  Nynorsk: arena m

• Polish: arena (pl) f
• Portuguese: arena (pt) f
• Romanian: arenă (ro) f
• Russian: аре́на (ru) f (aréna)

Anagrams

• Aaren, Arean, Arnea, anear

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin arēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾena/
• Syllabification: a‧re‧na
• Rhymes: -ena

Noun

arena f (plural arenas)

1. sand

References

• “arena”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)
• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002), “arena”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

Asturian

Alternative forms

• areña

Etymology

From Latin arēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾena/ [aˈɾe.na]
• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena f (uncountable)

1. sand

   Synonym: sable

Derived terms

• reló d'arena

Further reading

• García Arias, Xosé Lluis (2002–2004), “areña”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (overall work in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN
• “arena”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin arēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [əˈɾe̞.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əˈɾə.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [əˈɾɛ.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [aˈɾe.na]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

arena f (plural arenes)

1. sand

   Synonym: sorra

2. arena (an enclosed area for the presentation of sporting events)
3. arena (a realm in which important events unfold)

Further reading

• “arena”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “arena”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “arena” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “arena”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian arena, from Latin arēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aːˈreː.naː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: are‧na
• Rhymes: -eːnaː

Noun

arena m (plural arena's, diminutive arenaatje n)

1. arena (enclosed area for the presentation of sporting or other spectacular events)
2. arena (building housing such an area)

Usage notes

• Previously also found in the neuter gender

Derived terms

• sportarena

Descendants

• → Indonesian: arena

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “arena”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Further reading

• Arena (gebouw) on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Galician

Etymology

From Latin arēna. Doublet of area.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾena/ [aˈɾe.nɐ]
• Rhymes: -ena
• Hyphenation: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena f (plural arenas)

1. arena (an enclosed area for the presentation of sporting events)

Further reading

• “arena”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “arena”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch arena, from Latin arēna (“sand, arena”), from an earlier *hasēna (compare Sabine fasēna), possibly from Etruscan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈarɛna]
• Hyphenation: arè‧na

Noun

arèna (plural arena-arena)

1. arena:
   1. the building housing such an area; specifically, a very large, often round building, often topped with a dome, designated for indoor sporting or other major events, such as concerts

      Synonym: gelanggang

   2. (figurative) a realm in which events take place; an area of interest, study, behaviour, etc.

Further reading

• “arena”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin arēna. Doublet of rena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈre.na/
• Rhymes: -ena
• Hyphenation: a‧ré‧na

Noun

arena f (plural arene)

1. sand

   Synonyms: sabbia, rena

2. beach or lido

Related terms

• arenoso

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin arēna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈre.na/, (traditional) /aˈrɛ.na/
• Rhymes: -ena, (traditional) -ɛna
• Hyphenation: a‧ré‧na, (traditional) a‧rè‧na

Noun

arena f (plural arene)

1. space in a classical amphitheatre; arena
2. bullring and similar sporting spaces
3. cockpit (An enclosure for cockfights)

Further reading

• “arena”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Latin

Alternative forms

• harēna

Etymology

From an earlier *hasēna (compare Sabine fasēna), possibly from Etruscan.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [aˈreː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [aˈrɛː.na]

Noun

arēna f (genitive arēnae); first declension

1. alternative form of harēna

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	arēna	arēnae
genitive	arēnae	arēnārum
dative	arēnae	arēnīs
accusative	arēnam	arēnās
ablative	arēnā	arēnīs
vocative	arēna	arēnae

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: arena, rena
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: arinã
  • Romanian: arină
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: arena (ety.1), rena
    • → Sicilian: arena
  • Neapolitan: arena
  • Sicilian: rina
  • Venetan: rena
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: rene
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: areine, araine
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: arena
  • Occitan: arena
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: arena
  • Mirandese: arena
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: arẽa, arena
    • Fala: area
    • Galician: area
    • Portuguese: areia (see there for further descendants)
  • Spanish: arena
• Ancient borrowings:
  • → Albanian: rânë
  • → Basque: harea

Later borrowings (unsorted):

• → Albanian: arenë
• → Belarusian: арэна (arena)
• → Bulgarian: арена (arena)
• → Catalan: arena
• → Chinese: 阿雷納 / 阿雷纳 (ā léi nà, aa³ leoi⁴ naap⁶)
• → Czech: aréna
• → Dutch: arena
  • → Indonesian: arena
• → English: arena
  • → Canadian French: aréna
• → French: arène
  • → Romanian: arenă
  • → Turkish: arena
• → Finnish: areena
• → German: Arena
• → Greek: αρένα (aréna)
• → Hungarian: aréna
• → Irish: airéine, airéana
• → Italian: arena (ety.2)
• → Japanese: アリーナ (arīna)
• → Korean: 아레나 (arena)
• → Macedonian: арена (arena)
• → Northern Sami: arena
• → Norwegian: arena
• → Occitan: arena
• → Persian: آرنا (ârenâ)
• → Polish: arena
• → Portuguese: arena
• → Russian: арена (arena)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: арена

  Latin script: arena

• → Spanish: arena
• → Swedish: arena
• → Ukrainian: арена (arena)

Mirandese

Etymology

Inherited from Latin arēna, possibly of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾena/ [ɐˈɾe.nɐ]
• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena f (plural arenas)

1. sand

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin arēna.

Noun

arena f

1. sand

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈarena/

Noun

arena

1. arena

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• Eino Koponen, Klaas Ruppel, Kirsti Aapala, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arena, harena.

Noun

arena m (definite singular arenaen, indefinite plural arenaer, definite plural arenaene)

1. an arena
2. a venue

References

• “arena” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin arena, harena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑˈreːnɑ/

Noun

arena m (definite singular arenaen, indefinite plural arenaer or arenaar, definite plural arenaene or arenaane)

1. an arena
2. a venue

References

• “arena” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin arēna, from an earlier *hasēna, possibly from Etruscan. Doublet of arenal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈrɛ.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛna
• Syllabification: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena f

1. arena (enclosed area, often outdoor)
2. arena (sports stadium)

   Synonym: stadion

3. (historical) arena (sand-covered centre of an amphitheatre)
4. arena (realm in which important events unfold)

Declension

Declension of arena

	singular	plural
nominative	arena	areny
genitive	areny	aren
dative	arenie	arenom
accusative	arenę	areny
instrumental	areną	arenami
locative	arenie	arenach
vocative	areno	areny

Derived terms

adjective

• arenowy

Related terms

adjective

• arenitowy

noun

• arenit

Further reading

• “arena”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “arena”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin arēna (“sand”), possibly from Etruscan *𐌇𐌀𐌔𐌄𐌍𐌀 (*hasena). Doublet of areia.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aˈɾẽ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐˈɾe.nɐ/

• Hyphenation: a‧re‧na

Noun

arena f (plural arenas)

1. arena

Related terms

• areal
• areia
• arenoso

Further reading

• “arena”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “arena”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin arena.

Noun

arena f

1. sand

Scots

Verb

arena

1. aren't

References

• Eagle, Andy, editor (2026), “arena”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[5]

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /arěːna/
• Hyphenation: a‧re‧na

Noun

aréna f (Cyrillic spelling аре́на)

1. arena

Declension

Declension of arena

	singular	plural
nominative	arena	arene
genitive	arene	arena
dative	areni	arenama
accusative	arenu	arene
vocative	areno	arene
locative	areni	arenama
instrumental	arenom	arenama

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾena/ [aˈɾe.na]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: a‧re‧na

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin arēna, possibly of Etruscan origin. Compare English arena.

Noun

arena f (plural arenas)

1. (geology) sand, gravel

   arena muerta ― pure sand (useless for cultivation)

   arenas movedizas ― quicksand

   chorro de arena ― sandblast

2. (building, sports) bullfight arena; boxing ring

Derived terms

• arena cinética
• arena de combate (“battle arena, fighting pit”)
• arena de miga
• arena de mina
• arena de moldeo
• arenal
• arenar
• arenas movedizas
• arenero
• arenilla
• arenisca
• banco de arena
• baño de arena
• dólar de arena
• edificar sobre arena
• enarenar
• granito de arena
• grano de arena
• hacer una montaña de un grano de arena
• reloj de arena
• sembrar en arena
• tormenta de arena
• una de cal y otra de arena

Related terms

• arenáceo
• arenisco
• arenoso

Etymology 2

Verb

arena

1. inflection of arenar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “arena”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Noun

arena c

1. arena

Declension

Declension of arena

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	arena	arenas
	definite	arenan	arenans
plural	indefinite	arenor	arenors
	definite	arenorna	arenornas

Anagrams

• arean