ocher

noun

ˈō-kər 

variants or ochre

1

: an earthy usually red or yellow and often impure iron ore used as a pigment

2

: the color of ocher

especially : the color of yellow ocher

ocherous

ˈō-k(ə-)rəs 

adjective

or ochreous

ˈō-k(ə-)rəs 

-krē-əs

Examples of ocher in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In some of his finest works, like Job Mocked by His Wife and The Newborn Child, the figures in their heavy clothes are reduced to flat shapes of ocher or brown, not unlike the way, three centuries later, Giorgio Morandi would commute vessels to a pure geometry stripped of all but color and feeling. —Nicole Krauss, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026

Through telescopes, ever improving technologically, Mars’s surface revealed itself to have exotic stretches of desolate, red-ocher terrain and more familiar-looking polar ice caps. —David Kamp, Air Mail, 23 Aug. 2025

To learn more about the unusual rock, the researchers first confirmed that the red dot was ocher, a natural pigment made from clay. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 June 2025

Analysis showed that the red dot consisted of ocher, a natural earth pigment. —Peter Guo, NBC news, 28 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English oker, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French ocre, from Latin ochra, from Greek ōchra, from feminine of ōchros yellow

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing ocher

• red ocher
• yellow ocher

Rhymes for ocher

• blocker
• chalker
• cocker
• docker
• hawker
• hocker
• knocker
• locker
• mocker
• rocker
• shocker
• soccer

Kids Definition

ocher

noun

variants or ochre

ˈō-kər 

1

: an earthy usually red or yellow and often impure iron ore used as coloring matter

2

: the color of yellow ocher