Orb

How to spell orb

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce orb

What does orb mean?

1. nounA spherical object, especially a glowing or ornamental one.

Orb in a sentence

• The lamp cast a soft glow from its frosted glass orb.

• At the coronation the king held the jewelled orb in his right hand.

Where does orb come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin orbis, which meant a circle, a ring, or a disc, and by extension any rounded outline. Romans used orbis in many senses, from the rim of a wheel to the curve of the heavens, and the phrase orbis terrarum even meant the whole circle of the lands, that is, the world. English took the word up in the late 1500s, partly through Old French orbe, first to describe a circle or disc and then a solid sphere, especially a heavenly body like the sun or a planet. From there it gathered its regal sense, the jewelled golden globe carried by a monarch as a symbol of authority. The spelling stays close to the Latin original, and because the word is short and ends in a hard b, the only real trap is hearing the vowel and writing it as 'orb' rather than the tempting 'orb'-like misspellings; the same orbis root also survives in 'orbit', which helps fix it in memory.

How the word is built

• orb (from Latin orbis: circle, ring); a single unanalysable root with no prefix or suffix