orca

English

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orca

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• orc (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin orca (“tun, cask; whale”), see there for more. Although the origin is obscure, the sometimes-cited association with orcus (“underworld”) is folk-etymology. Doublet of orc.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈoɹkə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːkə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)kə

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Noun

orca (plural orcas or orca)

1. A sea mammal (Orcinus orca) related to dolphins and porpoises, commonly called the killer whale.

   Synonyms: grampus, killer whale, blackfish

   • 1876, Alexander Schultz, “Account of the Fisheries and Seal-Hunting in the White Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Caspian Sea”, in United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part III. Report of the Commissioner for 1873-4 and 1874-5., Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 55:

     In the summer, when the weather is calm and beautiful, large flocks of orcæ can be seen approaching the shallow places near the shore, or between the numerous islands of the White Sea. Several fishermen associate for hunting orcæ, each one furnishing a boat, and a large seine made of cords of the thickness of a finger, the meshes being 10½ inches square.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ork, orc

Anagrams

• AOCR, Arco, Caro, Cora, RAOC, Roca, acro, acro-, arco, ocra

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin orca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

orca f (plural orques)

1. orca

Further reading

• “orca” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin orca.

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

orca f (plural orcas)

1. orca, killer whale

   Synonym: candorca

Further reading

• “orca” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Hungarian

Etymology

A compound of orr (“nose”) +‎ száj (“mouth”) → orrszáj, transformed to orca over the centuries.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: or‧ca
• Rhymes: -t͡sɒ

Noun

orca (plural orcák)

1. (archaic) cheek

   Holonym: (face) arc

   • 1844, Sándor Petőfi, translated by John Ridland, János vitéz‎, chapter 4, stanza 5, lines 1-2:

     „Hej, Iluskám! hogyne volnék én halovány, / Mikor szép orcádat utószor látom tán…”

     “Oh, Nelly love! How could I help but look white, / When your lovely face soon will be torn from my sight…”

   • 1872, Mór Jókai, Az arany ember (Timar’s Two Worlds), part 1, chapter 2, translated by Mrs. Hegan Kennard:

     A kormányos ölnyi termetű kemény férfi volt, erősen rezes arcszínnel, a két orcáján a pirosság vékony hajszálerek szövevényében fejezte ki magát, miktől a szeme fehére is recés volt.

     The steersman is a six-foot weather-beaten sailor with a very red face, whose color on both cheeks comes from a network of veins with which the white of the eye is also transfused.

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• orca in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish orca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɾˠkə/

Noun

orca f (genitive singular orcan, nominative plural oircne)

1. (literary) calf (of leg)

   Synonyms: colpa, pluc

Declension

Mutation

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “orca”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “orca”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Entries containing “orca” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “orca” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin orca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔr.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɔrka
• Hyphenation: òr‧ca

Noun

orca f (plural orche)

1. killer whale; orca

   Synonym: balena assassina

   • 1516, Ludovico Ariosto, “Canto decimo [Canto 10]”, in Orlando Furioso [Raging Roland]‎, Venice: Gabriel Giolito, published 1551, page 41:

     Vi fu legata pur quella mattina,
     Dove venia per trangughiarla viva
     Quel smisurato Mostro Orca marina,
     che di abhorrevole esca si nutriva

     That morning, she was tied up there, where that enormous monster, marine orca, feeding on horrible bait, was coming to swallow her alive

   • 1619, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, La fiera‎, published 1726, page 198:

     Per quelle cave algose,
     Preda d’orche voraci, e d’onde avare

     Through those caves filled with seaweeds, prey to voracious orcas, and ungenerous waves

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Dutch hulk.

Alternative forms

• urca, ulca

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈor.ka/
• Rhymes: -orka
• Hyphenation: ór‧ca

Noun

orca f (plural orche)

1. (nautical, historical) hulk (large ship used for transportation)

Further reading

• orca¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• orca² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• acro, acro-, arco, arcò, caro, ocra, roca

Latin

Etymology

Either borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕρχη (húrkhē, “earthen fish-salting vessel”), or else both borrowed separately from a substrate Mediterranean language. The sense of whale is likely influenced by ὄρυξ (órux, “pickaxe; oryx; narwhal”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈor.ka/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈor.ka/,

Noun

orca f (genitive orcae); first declension

1. orc, orca (kind of whale)
2. butt, tun (large-bellied vessel)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Derived terms

• urceus

Descendants

• → Proto-West Germanic: *ork (see there for further descendants)
• Spanish: orca
• Portuguese: orca
• Italian: orca
• Galician: orca
• French: orque
  • → English: orc
• Catalan: orca
• Romanian: orca
• → English: orca
  • → Cebuano: orca
• → Dutch: orka
• → German: Orca
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: орца
  • Latin script: orka
• → Polish: orka
  • → Kashubian: órka

References

• “orca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “orca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• orca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• orca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “orca”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “orca”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: or‧ca

Noun

orca f (plural orcas)

1. orca

   Synonym: baleia-assassina

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin orca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈoɾka/
• Rhymes: -oɾka
• Syllabification: or‧ca
• Homophone: horca

Noun

orca f (plural orcas, masculine orco, masculine plural orcos)

1. orca, killer whale

   Synonym: ballena asesina

Further reading

• “orca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Anagrams

• arco, caro, cora, raco, roca