ochre

English

Etymology 1

WOTD – 3 August 2010

An Australian ochre pit.

From Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)).

Alternative forms

• ocher (chiefly US)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊkɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊkə(ɹ)

Noun

ochre (countable and uncountable, plural ochres)

1. A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide
2. A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour

   ochre:  

3. (molecular biology, colloquial) The stop codon sequence "UAA."
4. (slang) Money, especially gold.
   • 1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 6, in Hard Times‎^[1]:

     ‘What does he come here cheeking us for, then?’ cried Master Kidderminster, showing a very irascible temperament. ‘If you want to cheek us, pay your ochre at the doors and take it out.’

5. Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.

Derived terms

• brown ochre
• gold ochre
• purple ochre
• red ochre
• uran-ochre
• yellow ochre

 

Descendants

• → Irish: ócar
• → Welsh: ocr

Translations

earth pigment

• Afrikaans: oker
• Armenian: օխրա (hy) (ōxra), օքրա (hy) (ōkʻra), դեղնդեղ (hy) (deġndeġ), դեղնահող (hy) (deġnahoġ)
• Bulgarian: охра (bg) f (ohra)
• Catalan: ocre (ca) m
• Dutch: oker (nl) n
• Finnish: keltamulta (fi), okra (fi)
• French: ocre (fr) f
• Georgian: ჟანგმიწა (žangmic̣a), ოქრა (okra)
• German: Ocker (de) m
• Greek: ώχρα (el) f (óchra)
• Hungarian: okker (hu)
• Irish: ócar m
• Japanese: 黄土 (ja) (おうど, ōdo)
• Kalmyk: шарц (şarts)
• Karakalpak: josa
• Latvian: okers m
• Maori: kōkōwai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oker m

  Nynorsk: oker m

• Persian: اخرا (fa) (oxrâ), گلک (gelak), فاده (fāde)
• Portuguese: ocre (pt) m, ocra (pt) f
• Romanian: ocru (ro) n
• Russian: о́хра (ru) f (óxra)
• Spanish: ocre (es) m
• Swedish: ockra (sv) c
• Ukrainian: во́хра f (vóxra), о́хра f (óxra)
• Welsh: ocr m

yellowish-orange colour

• Afrikaans: okergeel
• Catalan: ocre (ca)
• Czech: okr (cs) m
• Dutch: oker (nl) n, okerkleur
• Finnish: okra (fi), okrankeltainen
• French: ocre (fr) f
• Georgian: ჟანგისფერი (žangisperi)
• German: Ocker (de) n
• Greek: ώχρα (el) f (óchra), υποκίτρινο n (ypokítrino)
• Hungarian: okker (hu), okkersárga (hu)
• Indonesian: oker (id)
• Italian: ocra (it) f
• Japanese: オーカー (ōkā), 黄土色 (ja) (おうどいろ, ōdo)
• Korean: 황토 (hwangto)
• Malagasy: bibidia (mg)
• Malay: oker
• Maori: kōkōwai
• Polish: ochra (pl) f
• Portuguese: ocre (pt) m, ocra (pt) f
• Romanian: ocru (ro)
• Russian: жёлто-оранжевый (žólto-oranževyj) цвет (ru) m (cvet), охра (ru) (oxra)
• Serbo-Croatian: oker (sh)
• Spanish: ocre (es)
• Swedish: ockra (sv) c
• Tagalog: okre
• Ukrainian: во́хра f (vóxra), о́хра f (óxra)
• Vietnamese: thổ hoàng
• Welsh: ocr m

Adjective

ochre (not comparable)

1. Having a yellow-orange colour.
2. (archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.

Translations

having yellow-orange colour

• Afrikaans: oker, okergeel
• Armenian: դեղնակարմիր (hy) (deġnakarmir)
• Catalan: ocraci, ocre (ca)
• Czech: okrový (cs)
• Dutch: oker (nl), okerkleurig
• Finnish: okra (fi), okrankeltainen
• French: ocre (fr)
• German: ockern, ocker (de), ockerfarben (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὠχρός (ōkhrós)

• Hungarian: okker (hu), okkersárga (hu)
• Irish: ócair m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} オーカーの (ōkā no), ^{(please verify)} 黄土色の (おうどいろの, ōdo no)
• Malagasy: bibidia (mg)
• Maori: kōkōwai, hōrua, pākākā
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: okergul

  Nynorsk: okergul

• Portuguese: ocre (pt)
• Romanian: ocru (ro)
• Russian: жёлто-оранжевый (žólto-oranževyj)
• Spanish: ocre (es)
• Ukrainian: во́христий (vóxrystyj), вохряни́й (voxrjanýj)
• Welsh: ocr, ocraidd, melynaidd

in archeology

• Finnish: okrahauta-

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} oker (sh) m

Verb

ochre (third-person singular simple present ochres, present participle ochring or ochreing, simple past and past participle ochred)

1. To cover or tint with ochre.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter 14, in Capricornia‎^[2], New York: Appleton, published 1943, page 229:

     […] his eye was caught by the sight of one child in a group of smaller children playing in the shallows some little distance down—a white child, so white by contrast with the others that at first he thought it must be ochred, which it could not be while playing in the water.

   • 2009 July 6, Verlyn Klinkenborg, “How the Thunder Sounds”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     The sun gloats in the sky, casting a gleam on the pasture where there was so much umbering and ochreing only moments before.

See also

• ochrous / ochreous
• kokowai
• ruddle
• Appendix:Colors

Etymology 2

From an unknown West African language, probably Igbo ọ́kụ̀rụ̀, but compare Akan ŋkrũmã and ŋkrakra (“broth”).

Noun

ochre (countable and uncountable, plural ochres)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of okra.

References

• “ochre”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “ochre”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “okra, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Anagrams

• -chore, Roche, chore, ocher, roche