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ord

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

3 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "ord", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "ord" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "ord" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

ord is aEnglishnoun. It means: A point. Often confused with OS and oz.

Key facts for ord
PropertyValue
Headwordord
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#30,520
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of ord in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for ord is 3 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #30,520 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for ord in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "OS", "oz", "OT", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *uzdaz). Cog… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is ord, spelled O-R-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A point.
  2. 2
    A point of origin; a beginning.
  3. 3
    A point of land; a promontory.
  4. 4
    The point or edge of a weapon.

Etymology

From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *uzdaz). Cognate with North Frisian od (“tip, place, beginning”), Dutch oord (“place, region”), German Ort (“location, place, position”), Danish od (“a point”), Swedish udd (“a point, prick”), Icelandic oddur (“tip, point of a weapon, leader”). See also odd.

Frequency rank: #30,520 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ord"?
"ord" is spelled O-R-D.
What does "ord" mean?
As a noun, "ord" means: A point.
What words are commonly confused with "ord"?
"ord" is commonly confused with "OS", "oz", "OT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "ord"?
From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *u... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.