ochre
/ˈoʊkɚ/noun, adjective, verb
ochre is spelled O-C-H-R-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ochre means “A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ochre is ochres.
How many letters and syllables are in ochre?
| Letters | 5: O-C-H-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ochre?
Ochre appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ochre?
- UK /ˈəʊkə/
- US /ˈoʊkɚ/
Ochre has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ochre.ogg, En-au-ochre.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ochre?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ochre from its last stressed vowel (/oʊkəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: roche, chore, ocher.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ochre
- ochres plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ocher
- ochring participle, present
- ochreing participle, present
- ochred participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ochre mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
- 2
A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour.
- 3
colloquialThe stop codon sequence "UAA".
- 4
datedslangMoney, especially gold.
- 5
Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.
adjective
- 1
Having a yellow-orange colour.
- 2
Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.
verb
- 1
To cover or tint with ochre.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ochre in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ochre come from?
From Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).