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• ore
  ore

  noun

  a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.
• öre
  öre

  noun

  a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.
• Ore.
  Ore.

  abbreviation

  Oregon.

ore

¹ American  

[awr, ohr] / ɔr, oʊr /

noun

• ores
  plural

1. 

   a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.

2. a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur.

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öre ² American  

[œ-ruh] / ˈœ rə /

Also øre

noun

• öre
  plural

1. a bronze coin of Norway, one 100th of a krone.

2. a zinc or bronze coin of Denmark, one 100th of a krone.

3. a bronze coin of Sweden, one 100th of a krona.

4. a fractional currency of the Faeroe Islands, one 100th of a krona.

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Ore. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Oregon.

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öre ¹ British  

/ ˈørə /

noun

1. a Scandinavian monetary unit worth one hundredth of a Swedish krona and ( øre ) one hundredth of a Danish and Norwegian krone

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ore ² British  

/ ɔː /

noun

1. any naturally occurring mineral or aggregate of minerals from which economically important constituents, esp metals, can be extracted

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ore Scientific  

/ ôr /

1. A naturally occurring mineral or rock from which a valuable or useful substance, especially a metal, can be extracted at a reasonable cost.

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ore Cultural  

1. In geology, a mineral that contains a commercially useful material, such as gold or uranium.

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Discover More

Ore deposits are generally mined, and the ore is processed to recover the material.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ores
  plural
• öre
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ore¹

before 900; conflation of Middle English ore, Old English ōra ore, unreduced metal; and Middle English or(e) ore, metal, Old English ār brass, cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German ēr, Old Norse eir, Gothic aiz; compare Latin aes bronze, coin, money

Origin of öre²

First recorded in 1600–10; ultimately from Latin aureus “a gold coin of ancient Rome”; see aureus ( def. )

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Explanation

Ore is a rock that contains minerals like iron, gold, or lead. The seven dwarfs in the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" worked mining ore. Another meaning of ore is a Swedish unit of money. The krona is made up of 100 ore. In this use, ore is usually spelled with an umlaut over the o — öre. In English, ore is most commonly used to mean a material from which valuable metals or gems can be extracted. In Old English, ora means unwrought metal and ar means bronze. Both root words are thought to have influenced this sense of ore.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ore öre Ore. ores

The most actively traded January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange drops 1.2% to 676.0 yuan a ton.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

That ore will allow the plant to produce a higher-quality steel than competitors that mostly rely on scrap-metal feedstock, Broking said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Iron ore will maintain its strong supply and weak demand fundamentals over the next month with prices likely in the range between 600 yuan and 735 yuan a ton.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Meanwhile, overseas iron ore shipments remain elevated, keeping supply abundant, it says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

There was a lot of gold in Battle Mountain, but it was trapped in the ore.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

He had to beg especially for every öre, he couldn't get much at that.

From The Soul of a Child by Edwin Björkman

After dinner a short walk brought the party to the landing-place of the little steamers, where, paying eight öre, or about two cents, each, they embarked.

From Up The Baltic Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark by Oliver Optic

The tax is called a skatt-öre, the word originating from the small coin of that name, and each town decides whether the öre shall be charged on two hundred or four hundred marks.

From Through Finland in Carts by Mrs. (Ethel) Alec-Tweedie

Then she gave the anxious countryman a tallow candle, and, as she slipped out again, she put sixty-three öre into the hand of the stranger by the stove.

From Norse Tales and Sketches by Alexander Lange Kielland

If it was really worth an öre and a half, it is incredible that Gustavus in the strait in which he then was should have ultimately given it for an öre.

From The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Paul Barron Watson

Police said two people—a teacher and a father—heroically intervened to stop a 16-year-old shooter at a Bend, Ore., elementary school, saving others’ lives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

His biggest financial hit this past year was the five trips he made to Portland, Ore., which is 280 miles away from his home, for medical procedures.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

The 42-year-old senior director of global communications at Nike in Portland, Ore., almost never mentions it herself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

But once the four-star Gardena Serra product made it to Oregon for his first year of college football, he struggled to adapt and get situated in Eugene, Ore., — he needed another older brother.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Ore. But Sahale, in order to show his appreciation of the care with which Loowit had guarded the sacred fire, now determined to offer her any gift she might desire as a reward.

From In the Oregon Country Out-Doors in Oregon, Washington, and California Together with some Legendary Lore, and Glimpses of the Modern West in the Making by George Palmer Putnam

It’s about his obsession with “Minecraft,” the immensely popular video sandbox game that takes place in a world of 3D cubes representing raw materials such as wood, ores, stone and dirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

The largest rise in exports was in metal ores and nonmetallic minerals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Africa's exports to China are dominated by minerals and raw materials, such as crude oil and metallic ores.

From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026

However, they are also lower grade than many such ores mined elsewhere across the globe, Goodenough notes.

From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026

Mercury was produced in large quantities because it was used to extract gold and silver from their ores, and it was widely available because it was used in medicine, particularly to treat syphilis.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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