I've heard classical guitarists speak about broken chords...and that's when you, instead of playing all the notes of a chord together, play the notes separated, mostly from lowest to highest note, fast. Yeah, it's a kind of arpeggio, but what those classical guitarists do is that they don't mute the strings, but let them ring in to each other and produce a harp-like sound.

that's what the classical guys mean when the say broken chords. the term can also be used for, yes, arpeggio.