ochre - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
ochre (countable and uncountable, plural ochres)
- A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
- A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour.
- ✤ ochre:
- (molecular biology, colloquial) The stop codon sequence “UAA”.
- (slang, dated) Money, especially gold.
- ✤ ‘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.’1
- Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.
Adjective
ochre (not comparable)
- Having a yellow-orange colour.
- (archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.
Verb
ochre (third-person singular simple present ochres, present participleochring or ochreing, simple past and past participle ochred)
- To cover or tint with ochre.
- ✤ […] 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.2
- ✤ The sun gloats in the sky, casting a gleam on the pasture where there was so much umbering and ochreing only moments before.3
Noun
ochre (countable and uncountable, plural ochres)
- Obsolete spelling of okra.
Etymology 1
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)).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈəʊkə/
- (General American) IPA: /ˈoʊkɚ/
- Audio (US): 🔊
- Audio (Australia): 🔊
- Rhymes: -əʊkə(ɹ)
Etymology 2
From an unknown West African language, probably Igbo ọ́kụ̀rụ̀, but compare Akan ŋkrũmã and ŋkrakra (“broth”).
Printed 2026-09-15.
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