orc

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in fantasy literature and games, a member of a race of aggressive, often monstrous humanoid creatures

   The novel's orc served a dark lord and raided the mountain villages.

2. 2
   noun

   archaic: a large ferocious sea creature, especially a killer whale

   Older natural histories sometimes called the killer whale an orc.

Simplified etymology

Orc comes ultimately from Orcus, the Roman god of the underworld. Old English used orc for a demon, but the word disappeared by about 1000 and re-entered English in the 17th century from Italian orco, meaning a man-eating giant. It had become rare when J. R. R. Tolkien revived it for his goblin-like creatures in the 1930s.

Two histories meet in this spelling. The archaic sea animal came through Middle French orque from Latin orca, whale, and is a doublet of orca. The fantasy monster probably comes through Italian orco and Old English orc, associated with Latin Orcus, the underworld; J. R. R. Tolkien revived and popularized that sense.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary