orc

See also: ORC

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle French orque, Italian orca, and their source, Latin orca (“type of whale”).

Noun

orc (plural orcs)

  1. Any of several large, ferocious sea creatures, now especially the killer whale. [from 16th c.]
Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc (“demon”); both from Latin orcus (“underworld”). Doublet of ogre.

Noun

orc (plural orcs)

  1. (fantasy, mythology) A mythical evil monstrous humanoid creature, usually quite aggressive and often green. [from 17th c.]
    • 1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara del Fogo, I.1:
      Who at one stroke didst pare away three heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.
    • 1834, "The National Fairy Mythology of England" in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, p. 53:
      The chief exploit of the hero, Beowulf the Great, is the destruction of the two monsters Grendel and his mother; both like most of the evil beings in the old times, dwellers in the fens and the waters; and both, moreover, as some Christian bard has taken care to inform us, of "Cain's kin," as were also the eotens, and the elves, and the orcs (eótenas, and ylfe, and orcneas).
    • 1954, JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:
      There was a flash like flame and the helm burst asunder. The orc fell with cloven head.

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Catalan

Noun

orc m (plural orcs)

  1. An orc.

Old English

Etymology 1

Compare Old Saxon ork.

Noun

orc m

  1. Cup, tankard.

Etymology 2

From Latin orcus.

Noun

orc m

  1. Demon.
  2. Hell.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos. Cognate with Latin porcus and English farrow.

Noun

orc m

  1. piglet

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
orc unchanged n-orc
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Descendents

References

“orc” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Portuguese

Noun

orc m (plural orcs)

  1. (fantasy) orc (evil, monstrous humanoid creature)
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