Orc


[awrk] /ɔrk/

noun
1.
any of several cetaceans, as a grampus.
2.
a mythical monster, as an ogre.
1.
Officers’ Reserve Corps.
/ɔːk/
noun
1.
any of various whales, such as the killer and grampus
2.
one of an imaginary race of evil goblins, esp in the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien
n.

“ogre, devouring monster,” Old English orcþyrs, orcneas (plural), perhaps from a Romanic source akin to ogre, and ultimately from Latin Orcus “Hell,” a word of unknown origin. Revived by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) as the name of a brutal race in Middle Earth.

But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it. [“Return of the King,” 1955]

Related Terms

ork

noun

An orchestra (1936+)

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