The usage of the term varies. E.g. the GNU C library uses the word "arena" to describe the internal structures used by its 'malloc' allocator. What you describe

The usage of the term varies. E.g. the GNU C library uses the word "arena" to describe the internal structures used by its 'malloc' allocator. What you describe they call "obstack", which also has internal "arenas". So at least here the word "arena" means a list of pages used internally by a single allocator regardless of its operational principle. In any case the quality that allows to quickly free all tied memory is not exclusive to a bump-type allocator; any allocator that exists on its own can do that. It is just that we do not often see standalone malloc-like allocators. But they are totally possible. A bump allocator supports other actions that are indeed exclusive to its design: partial free (set a mark and later "return" to it and free everything that was allocated after that mark) or allocating the last chunk step-by-step ("growing"). These are indeed unique to bump allocator, but the way it frees all memory is not. For example, one might want to combine a bump and slab allocator: generally bump, but allow for 'free' for small sizes with subsequent reuse of the freed slab. This would be a tad slower than pure bump, but will have a better use of memory in certain scenarios.