WikiWord

English

ore

/oɹ/ · noun

Meaning

  1. Rock or other material that contains valuable or utilitarian materials; primarily a rock containing metals or gems for which it is typically mined and processed.
  2. A unit of currency used in England around the 10th to 12th centuries.
  3. Seaweed, especially that which is washed up ashore.
  4. A type of fine wool, especially of the type historically produced in the market town of Leominster, Herefordshire.
  5. Obsolete form of over.
  6. Alternative form of öre.
  7. A suburban area, formerly a village, in Hastings borough, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ8311).
  8. A river in Suffolk, England, in two sections; a non-tidal section that joins the River Alde, and a tidal section, a renaming of the Alde parallel to the coast south of Aldeburgh, passing Orford before entering the North Sea.
  9. A tributary of the River Leven, Fife council area, Scotland.
  10. Abbreviation of Oregon.

Etymology / origin

From Middle English or, oor, blend of Old English ōra (“ore, unwrought metal”) and ār (“brass, copper, bronze”), the first a derivate of ear (“earth”), the second from Proto-West Germanic *aiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *aiz, from Proto-Indo-European *áyos, h₂éyos. Compare Old Norse eir (“brass, copper”), German ehern (“of metal, of iron”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌶 (aiz, “ore”); also Dutch oer (“ferrous hardpan; bog iron ore”). Compare Latin aes (“bronze, copper”), Avestan 𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬵 (aiiah), Sanskrit अयस् (áyas, “copper, iron”).

Related words

Descendant words

Sources

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