overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

moor.

An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/mʊə//mɔː//moː/Australia, British, Southern, Standard/mʊ(ə)ɹ/
  1. An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

    A cold, biting wind blew across the moor, and the travellers hastened their step.
    In her girlish age, she kept sheep on the moor.
  2. A game preserve consisting of moorland.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon mūr, German Moor and perhaps also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei). See mere.

verb/mʊə//mɔː//moː/Australia, British, Southern, Standard/mʊ(ə)ɹ/
  1. To cast anchor or become fastened.

    intransitive
    The vessel moored in the stream.
  2. To fix or secure (e.g. a vessel) in a particular place by casting anchor, or by fastening with ropes, cables or chains or the like.

    transitive
    They moored the boat to the wharf.
  3. To secure or fix firmly.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English moren, from unattested Old English *mārian, from Proto-West Germanic *mairōn (“to moor, fasten to”), related to *maida- (“post”), from Proto-Indo-European *mēyt-, *meyt-, from *mēy-, *mey- (“stake, pole”). Cognate with Dutch meren (“to moor”), marren (“to bind”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

moor has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

moor studiomoor workshello, moor

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.