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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

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. )

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

Because the gold won’t be processed at the mine, large amounts of ore would need to be brought through the park and shipped out on barges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The boost from oil and gas was tempered somewhat by the mining industry, as declines in coal and non-metallic minerals countered higher metal ore mining.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

By the researcher's calculations, that figure is seven to 165 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of copper produced, depending on the sulfide content of the metal ore and local geologic conditions.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

The furnaces operate at extreme temperatures, with iron ore and coking coal poured in at the top and liquid iron extracted at the bottom.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

And the word racist, to them, conjures, if not a tobacco-spitting oaf, then something just as fantastic—an ore, troll, or gorgon.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

"I will give you two öre for your thoughts, if they are worth it," her father said at last.

From Gerda in Sweden by Etta Austin Blaisdell McDonald

So that when he issued a new coin and called it an öre and a half, people were suspicious and refused to take it till he reduced it to something like its value.

From The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Paul Barron Watson

“One rigsdaler and fifty öre each—three rigsdalers in all.”

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

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

Now the price of the former is four öre, about one cent, and of the latter a half cent.

From Norwegian Life by Ethlyn T. Clough

Portland, Ore.: By preventing the stripping of fasteners, Henry Phillips’s design enabled the use of high-speed power tools essential for World War II-era assembly lines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Fadel, who lives in Portland, Ore., and calls herself “a soul-collaborator,” has a masters in spiritual companionship and spent a decade working as a pastor in a Portland church helping members find untraditional spiritual paths.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

In 2022, an ammonia release at a warehouse in Forest Grove, Ore., required a hazmat response, and in 2020, a contractor was killed after an ammonia release inside a warehouse in Statesville, N.C., it states.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

Before that, she was a corporate beat reporter in Chicago covering restaurants and the food industry and worked at newspapers in Detroit, Portland, Ore., and the San Francisco Bay Area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Portland, Ore. "Superbly flowing By piny banks basaltiform, romantic" SPOKANE: Metropolis of the Inland Empire, and second largest city in the state.

From The Beauties of the State of Washington A Book for Tourists by Harry F. Giles

Exports of copper ores and concentrates also rose strongly to reach the highest on record, with shipments to Japan, China, Finland and South Korea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The former provides access to rare earth ores, and the latter can process ores into usable products.

From Barron's ● May 13, 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

On a year-over-year basis, the increase was led by gold, silver and platinum-group metal ores, followed by conventional and synthetic crude oil, and cattle and calves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 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

Related Words

• gold
• iron
• metal
• mineral
• platinum