joan of arc
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.80 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "At the heart of the matter lies a simple truth. It is that Joans of Arc, to fulfill the most shining symmetries of their destinies, should not grow interminably old. The fiery leader of the Fighting French in 1940 looks a trifle better, in perspective, than the recent candidate for re-election who lunged down from his pedestal to wrestle for votes."
- "And they're the ones that put you down/ 'Cause they got no heart / But I'm the one that will follow you / You're my Joan of Arc"
- "Volatile yet stubborn, self-interested yet a modern Joan of Arc—criticisms of Richardson were as contradictory as they claimed her to be."
- "Digressing a bit, the mission statement of this chapter is to illustrate the example set for all of us by the Joan of Arcs of today—women who serve in Special Operations in particular, and the military in general […]"
Etymology
Appellativisation of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), the name of a 15th century French folk heroine revered as a martyr. Further etymology The name itself is a calque of French Jeanne d'Arc. According to surviving signatures, her Old French given name was Jehanne, feminine form of Jehan (cognate in English to John). In the English language, her first name has been repeated as Joan since the fifteenth century because that was the only English equivalent for the feminine form of John during her lifetime, Jane not being attested until later. She did not come from a place called Arc; d'Arc was attributed because of her father's surname, which was most likely Darc. Apostrophes were never used in fifteenth-century French surnames, which sometimes leads to confusion when analyzing such names. See Wikipedia (Name of Joan of Arc) for more.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: -