ogre

See also: Ogre

English

WOTD – 11 April 2009

Etymology

First attested in the 18th century, borrowed from French ogre, from Latin Orcus (“god of the underworld”), from Ancient Greek Ὅρκος (Hórkos), the personified demon of oaths (ὅρκος (hórkos, “oath”)) who inflicts punishment upon oath-breakers. Doublet of orc and Orcus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊ.ɡə/
• (General American) enPR: ōʹgər, IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.ɡɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊɡə(ɹ)

Noun

ogre (plural ogres)

1. (mythology) A type of brutish giant from folk tales that eats human flesh.
   • 1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 237:

     And in the seventh tale of the third day of the same collection, when Corvetto had hidden himself under the Ogre's bed to steal his quilt, "he began to pull quite gently, when the Ogre awoke, and bid his wife not to pull the clothes that way, or she'd strip him, and he would get his death of cold." "Why, it's you that are stripping me," replied the Ogress, "and you have not left a stitch on me." "Where the devil is the quilt?" says the Ogre[.]

2. (figuratively) A cruel person.

   People are going to think I'm an ogre if I refuse to buy coffee for my little brother!

Related terms

• ogreish, ogrish
• ogress

Translations

brutish giant

• Arabic: غُول (ar) (ḡūl)
• Asturian: ogru m
• Basque: ogro
• Bulgarian: великан човекоядец (velikan čovekojadec)
• Burmese: ဘီလူး (my) (bhilu:)
• Catalan: ogre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食人魔 (shírénmó)

• Czech: obr lidožrout m, zlobr (cs) m
• Dutch: oger (nl)
• Esperanto: ogro (eo)
• Finnish: jättiläinen (fi), jätti (fi)
• French: ogre (fr) m
• Galician: orco m, urco (gl) m, papón (gl) m, coco (gl) m
• German: Oger (de) m, Menschenfresser (de) m
• Greek: δράκοντας (el) (drákontas)
• Hebrew: מפלצת (he), אוֹגֵר (he) m (oger)
• Hungarian: ogre (hu)
• Ido: ogro (io)
• Indonesian: buto (id)
• Italian: orco (it) m
• Japanese: 鬼 (ja) (おに, oni), オーガ (ja) (ōga)
• Kikuyu: irimũ class 5
• Korean: 오거 (ogeo)
• Latvian: cilvēkēdājs
• Luhya: okundu
• Malayalam: ഓഗർ (ōgaṟ)
• Maori: kākarepō
• Marathi: राक्षस m (rākṣas), दानव m (dānav)
• Mòcheno: ork m
• Ngazidja Comorian: dzimku class 5/6
• Ojibwe: wiindigoo
• Oromo: bulguu
• Persian: غول پیکر, غول (fa)
• Polish: ogr (pl) m
• Portuguese: ogro (pt) m, ogre (pt) m
• Romanian: căpcăun (ro) m
• Russian: велика́н-людое́д m (velikán-ljudojéd), людое́д (ru) m (ljudojéd), огр (ru) m (ogr)
• Serbo-Croatian: ogrezlo
• Shan: ၽီလူး (shn) (phǐi lúu)
• Spanish: ogro (es) m
• Swahili: pandikizi la mtu
• Swedish: rese (sv), jätte (sv) c
• Thai: ผีปอบ (th)
• Turkish: yamyam (tr)
• Ukrainian: огр (ohr)

brutish man

• Arabic: غَشِيم (ḡašīm)
• Dutch: boeman (nl)
• Finnish: raakalainen (fi)
• German: Unmensch (de) m, Brutalo m
• Marathi: राक्षस m (rākṣas)
• Portuguese: brutamontes (pt) c or c pl
• Russian: зверь (ru) m (zverʹ), чудо́вище (ru) m (čudóvišče), и́зверг (ru) m (ízverg), скот m (skot), скоти́на (ru) f (skotína)
• Swedish: best (sv), troll (sv)

large beast

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 怪物 (zh) (guàiwù)

• Dutch: ondier (nl) n
• Finnish: hirviö (fi)
• German: Monster (de) n, Ungeheuer (de) n
• Korean: 오거 (ogeo)
• Russian: чудо́вище (ru) n (čudóvišče)
• Swedish: best (sv), odjur (sv) n

Anagrams

• Geor., Gero, Gore, Rego, ergo, ergo-, gero-, goer, gore, orge, rego, roge

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ogre, itself probably an alteration, with influence from words like bougre, of an earlier form *orc, from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”), with metathesis. According to the Trésor de la langue française informatisé, first attested in the late 12th century meaning 'fierce non-Christian', and ca. 1300 meaning 'human-eating giant' (in fairy tales). Cognate with Old Spanish huerco (“the Devil”), Spanish huerco (“depressed man in the dark”), Italian orco (“ogre, orc”). Doublet of orque.

See also French lutin (“imp, pixie”), possibly from Old French netun (“marine monster”), derived from Latin Neptūnus, and also Old French gene (“mischievous fairy”) and Romanian zână (“fairy”), both inherited forms of Latin Diāna. A sermon by Merovingian French bishop St. Eligius (died 659) advises people against belief in Neptune, Diana, Orcus and Minerva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔɡʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ogre m (plural ogres, feminine ogresse)

1. (mythology) ogre

Derived terms

• l’ogre de Corse (“Napoleon Bonaparte”)
• manger comme un ogre
• ogrerie
• ogresque

Descendants

• → Asturian: ogru
• → Catalan: ogre
• → Dutch: oger
• → English: ogre
• → German: Oger
• → Hungarian: ogre
• → Japanese: オーガ (ōga)
• → Korean: 오거 (ogeo)
• → Malayalam: ഓഗർ (ōgaṟ)
• → Polish: ogr
• → Portuguese: ogro, ogre
• → Spanish: ogro

Further reading

• “ogre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• orge

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɡɾi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɡɾi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɡɾe/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɡɾɨ/ [ˈɔ.ɣɾɨ]

• Hyphenation: o‧gre

Noun

ogre m (plural ogres, feminine ogra, feminine plural ogras)

1. Alternative form of ogro