ordure means dung, excrement. It carries an Arena rating of 1461, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ordure ranks #325 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #675 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,198 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,759 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
ordure is pronounced /ˈɔːdj(ʊ)ə/.
Why “ordure” is a great word
Animal or human excrement; by extension, anything regarded as morally foul or defiling. From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French and Anglo-Norman *ordure*, from Old French *ord* ("filthy") + *-ure* (noun-forming suffix). The adjective *ord* is derived from Latin *horridus* ("dreadful, horrid"). First attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike "feces," a sterile, clinical term, or "obscenity," which concerns offense to decency, "ordure" carries the full weight of its literal filth into the moral sphere. It is the steaming, fly-blown heap in the stable corner; the anonymous smear on the city pavement; the specific, rancid stench that lingers in a neglected room. To call a lie or a libel "ordure" is to assert it has soiled the world, leaving a stain that must be scraped away.
Etymology
From Middle English ordure, ordure, borrowed from Middle French ordure and Anglo-Norman ordure, ordeur(e), ordor(e), ordour from Old French ordure (“dirt, filth, refuse; dung, excrement; moral filth”) (modern French ordure), from ord (“filthy”) + -ure (suffix forming nouns describing the results of actions). Ord is derived from Latin horridus (“dreadful, frightful, horrid”), from horreō (“to stand erect, stand on end; to shiver, tremble; to be afraid of, dread; to be frightful”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“stiff; surprised”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’).
noun
- Dung, excrement.
- Dirt, filth.
- Something regarded as contaminating or perverting the morals; obscene material.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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