Ore

How to spell ore

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce ore

What does ore mean?

1. nounA naturally occurring rock or mineral from which a metal can be extracted, usually at a profit.

Ore in a sentence

• The miners hauled tonnes of iron ore out of the deep shaft.

• The smelter heats the crushed ore until the molten metal separates from the rock.

Where does ore come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Ore is a genuinely native English word, descending from the Old English ora, which meant unworked metal or the raw rock that holds it, and which also blended with the related Old English ar, meaning brass or copper. Both forms grew out of a common Germanic stock, and the sense was always the practical one of the metal-bearing material a smith or miner actually digs and works. Over the centuries the spelling settled on ore, while the modern meaning narrowed to the rock or mineral from which metal can be profitably extracted. Distant relatives in other languages, including the Latin aes (bronze, copper, and by extension money), point back to a very old shared root for worked metal. The short, plain spelling is exactly what makes it a trap: it sounds identical to oar (the rowing blade) and to the conjunction or, so the word is easy to confuse on the page even though it is easy to say.

How the word is built

• ore (from Old English ora 'unworked metal, ore', merged with ar 'brass, copper')

Words that sound like ore

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• or: A word linking alternatives, used to present a choice between two or more options.