Noah’s Ark is called tebah in the Hebrew text of Genesis.
The Hebrew noun tebah is commonly translated as “ark” in the Flood narrative. It is an unusual word in biblical Hebrew and is also used for the basket in which the infant Moses is placed in Exodus. In both contexts, the object protects a person from threatening waters.
The familiar English word “ark” comes through Latin arca, meaning a chest or box. This is a translation tradition rather than a direct description of the Hebrew pronunciation. English Bibles use “ark” both for Noah’s vessel and, in a different expression, for the Ark of the Covenant.
Those two biblical objects are not the same. The Flood vessel is called tebah, while the Covenant Ark is associated with a different Hebrew term. This distinction helps explain why “ark” can refer to separate objects in English translations.