Arnis
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Traditional Philippine stickfighting, a martial art. uncountable
- 2 plural of arni form-of, plural
- 3 A stick made of rattan, bahi, yantok, yakal or kamagong, used in Philippine stickfighting. countable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"In the morning of the 26th of March of 2023, Greg and I, both Filipinos, were talking in the teahouse, as I had my nth order of Strawberry Oat Matcha Latte and Greg, having already finished his coffee, attended to his newspapers and magazines. The barista at the cashier was Stefania, a beautiful black-haired Italian with an accent. Marlin, my Filipina friend, was sitting at a corner near the window. Near the counter stood a handsome head-shaven Japanese-looking man who was fluent in English. Greg and I discussed martial arts. There were the karate, judo, aikido, and kendo in Japan. There was the kung fu in China. There was the capoeira in Brazil. There was the arnis de mano in the Philippines. We mentioned Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, famous martial artists in the movie industry."
Etymology
From Tagalog arnis, from Spanish arnés in the archaic sense of “a chivalric set of weapons or armor” (compare English harness).
Related phrases
More for "arnis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.