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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

Find insight on gold futures, iron ore prices and more in the latest Market Talks covering Basic Materials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Copper and iron ore miner Anglo American is an especially clear example of mining’s importance for industrial capacity expansion, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Trucks alone dominate the movement of goods in the U.S., but the railways play a major role in moving coal, lumber, ore and other bulk cargo over very long-haul routes.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 20, 2026

Spot iron ore is $96/ton, according to S&P Global.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Their job was to load coal into two-ton ore cars and push them uphill on a narrow rail track to a staging area.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

"It costs five öre to go up in the lift, and three öre to come down," she replied.

From Gerda in Sweden by Etta Austin Blaisdell McDonald

He had started out with plenty of vouchers in his pocket, but only one crown and fifty öre in coin.

From Married by August Strindberg

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

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

It is noticeable also that those stamped 1523, which were presumably issued for an öre, contain a trifle more in value than those stamped 1522, and called an öre and a half.

From The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Paul Barron Watson

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

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

It was third-and-long, midway through the second quarter last November in Eugene, Ore. USC was down just a score, and Maiava, the Trojans’ big-armed quarterback, was trying to make something happen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Cheers to the Eugene, Ore., airport for offering a free short story dispenser in conjunction with the Eugene Public Library.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Moroney is slated to hit the stage again on Saturday at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., before she travels to Seattle, Sacramento and Los Angeles over the next two weeks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

He landed at Oregon City, Ore., in September, 1850, and the ensuing winter he spent in mining in California.

From Blazing The Way True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound by Emily Inez Denny

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

Crude energy products were the main driver of the monthly increase, followed by metal ores, concentrates and scrap.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 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

The city of Reichenstein in Silesia had been for almost a thousand years the site of mining for gold and silver ores, and for several hundred years for arsenic ores.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Related Words

• gold
• iron
• metal
• mineral
• platinum