orc
/ɔːk/US/ɔɹk/
orc noun: any of several large, ferocious sea creatures, now especially the killer whale.
Noun (1)
orc (plural orcs)
- Any of several large, ferocious sea creatures, now especially the killer whale.
- The latter phenomenon is similar to the conceptual division seen in Ainu society between kimun-kamuy, the bear spirit of the mountains, and repun-kamuy, the orc or dolphin spirit of the sea.1992, Utagawa Hiroshi, “The ‘Sending-Back’ Rite in Ainu Culture”, in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, volumes 19/2–3, page 265
Noun (2)
orc (plural orcs)
- A mythical evil monstrous humanoid creature, usually quite aggressive and often green.
- Who at one stroke didst pare away three heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara del Fogo, I.1
- 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...1834, "The National Fairy Mythology of England" in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, p. 53
- A Russian soldier or gangster.
- Ukrainians themselves, including those on the right, preferred to call the events the 'Revolution of Dignity', depicted not in terms of ethnicity or class, but in simple civic black and white – a revolution of the people against Yanukovych's 'Mordor' and his 'Orcs'.2015, Andrew Wilson, The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, page 354
- And now we must watch the old world go up in flames, in the mad spectacle of Putin’s orcs descending upon Kyiv to execute his macabre plan.2022 March 1, Bruno Maçães, “Europe’s Illusion of Peace Has Been Irrevocably Shattered”, in Time
- A Russian person.
Proper noun capitalized: ORC
ORC
- Initialism of Orange River Colony.
- Acronym of Otago Regional Council.
- Abbreviation of Oregon City.
Noun (3) capitalized: ORC
ORC (countable and uncountable, plural ORCs)
- Acronym of odd radio circle, a very large unexplained astronomical object.
- Even those who never look into the night sky and wonder about stars or galaxies may find the new research interesting, Diamond-Stanic said, because ORCs help to explain how the galaxy we live in came to be.2024 January 12, Deirdre Stires, “Those odd circles in space? They’re now explained thanks to scientists including Aleks Diamond-Stanic”, in Bates News
- Initialism of organized retail crime.
- Initialism of origin recognition complex.
Noun (4) capitalized: Orc
Orc (plural Orcs)
- Alternative form of orc (monstrous warrior in fantasy; Russian soldier)
orc meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
orc in Hindi
- ओ. आर. सी, ओआरसी
orc in Marathi
- evil monstrous humanoid creature
- ऑर्क ŏrka
orc in Urdu
- او آر سی
orc in Bengali
- ওআরসি
More languagesFewer languages
- orc in Telugu
- ఓఆర్సి
- orc in Malayalam
- ഒ. ആർ. സി, ഒആർസി
- orc in Kannada
- ಒಆರ್ಸಿ, ಒಆರ್. ಸಿ, ಓಆರ್ಸಿ
- orc in Punjabi
- ਓ. ਆਰ. ਸੀ, ਓਆਰਸੀ
- orc in Gujarati
- ઓ. આર. સી, ઓઆરસી
- orc in Odia
- ଓ. ଆର୍. ସି, ଓଆରସି, ଓ. ଆର. ସି
- orc in Nepali
- ओआरसी
- orc in Arabic
- أُورْك ʔōrk
- orc in Indonesian
- gergasi
- orc in Persian
- اورک ôrk
- orc in Thai
- ออร์ก ɔ́k
Forms of orc
| plural | orcs |
|---|---|
| plural | ORCs |
| plural | Orcs |
| alternative form (obsolete) | ork |
Origin of orc
From Middle French orque, Italian orca, and their source, Latin orca (“type of whale”). Doublet of orca.
Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc, which he took to mean "demon". Both are from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”). Doublet of ogre and Orcus. Etymology 2 sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian орк (ork, “evil monstrous humanoid creature; orc”) or Russian орк (ork), both from English orc and possibly under the influence of Russian у́рка (úrka, “criminal”, prison slang). Popularized in English in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Words formed from orc
Words that rhyme with orc
Questions about orc
- What does orc mean?
- Orc means any of several large, ferocious sea creatures, now especially the killer whale.
- What is orc in Hindi?
- Orc in Hindi is ओ. आर. सी, ओआरसी. See Orc meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is orc?
- Orc can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce orc?
- Orc is pronounced /ɔɹk/ (US).
- What is the plural of orc?
- The plural of orc is orcs.
Words near orc in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: orc (page history and authors); ORC (page history and authors); Orc (page history and authors); orc (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orc (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-orc.wav.
Cite this entry: “orc.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/orc. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.