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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 0.5% to 671.00 yuan a ton.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Iron ore shipments and arrivals at Chinese ports remain at high levels, with significant volume increases from non-mainstream mines, Tongguan Jinyuan Futures says in a research note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The iron ore market will likely continue to see strong supply and weak demand in the next month, it adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

A new impetus for the project had emerged: fears of a shortage of uranium ore, the raw material for the production of plutonium bomb cores.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

The tax varies very much; in some of the seaport towns, which receive heavy dues, the öre, which includes parochial rates, is very low.

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

On the coppers, the value in öre is marked.

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

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

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

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

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

A national spotlight is on the state’s 3rd District, just over the border from Portland, Ore., where Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is now set to face state Senate Minority Leader John Braun, a Republican.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

The Portland, Ore., resident had previously gotten promotional emails for Paze through Capital One and Chase, which she ignored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Portland, Ore. If this bashfulness holds good socially, it emphatically does not commercially.

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

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

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

“We can be our own barbarians. Madame Szegeczowska.—Oh, I meant to ask you. The Almaden mercury mines have fallen off quite badly in production. Surely the ores are not declining more rapidly than anticipated?”

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

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