Arnis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A traditional Filipino martial discipline that focuses on armed combat, especially with sticks and knives, while also incorporating empty-hand techniques
2. A specialized form of martial arts from the Philippines, emphasizing skills with weapons like sticks and blades, along with unarmed methods
3. A Filipino martial art that centers on weapon-based combat, particularly using sticks and knives, while also integrating techniques without weapons

Etymology: Arnis is the Filipino martial art built around stick and blade fighting, and its name is a Spanish loan that was once a word for armour. The Spanish "arnés" originally referred to a chivalric set of weapons or armour, the same family of meaning that gives English "harness", which was once used for a suit of armour as well as for the straps on a horse. Spanish colonial rule brought the word to the Philippines, where Tagalog speakers took it over as "arnis" and applied it to the fighting arts practised there. The shift from equipment to combat is the notable part. A word for the protective gear and fittings a knight wore came to name the skills of using weapons themselves, so the term moved from the object of war to the activity of fighting with it.