ochre
UK /ˈəʊkə/ · US /ˈoʊkɚ/ noun, adjective, verb
Also a form of okra
Forms ochres ochring ochreing ochred ocher
- noun A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
- noun A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour.
- noun (molecular biology, colloquial) The stop codon sequence "UAA".
- noun (slang, dated) Money, especially gold.
- noun Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.
- adjective Having a yellow-orange colour.
- adjective (archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.
- verb To cover or tint with ochre.
Synonyms
Etymology
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)).
From an unknown West African language, probably Igbo ọ́kụ̀rụ̀, but compare Akan ŋkrũmã and ŋkrakra (“broth”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun See Ocher.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ochre”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details