Mordor

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Mordor

/ˈmɔːdɔː(ɹ)/ UK
/ˈmɔɹdɔɹ/ US
/ˈmoːdoː(ɹ)/ Australia, New Zealand

Where it comes from

From Mordor, a bleak realm ruled by the dark lord Sauron, in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth. Tolkien created the name in his constructed language Sindarin, from morn (“dark, black”) and dôr (“land”). Compare with Old English morþor (“murder”), murder, Greek μαυρός (mavrós, “dim”) and Latin mors (“death”). Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian Мо́рдор (Mórdor) or Russian Мо́рдор (Mórdor), both of those from English Mordor, alluding to it being the land of orcs.

proper noun

An area of peril, darkness, or evil, which people fear to visit or explore. It is a “Mordor” sort of anthropology, dark rather than light, swampland rather than solid ground.
Similar: wasteland, hellscape
derogatory, slang Russia.

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MLA

"Mordor." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/mordor. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

Mordor. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/mordor

Chicago

"Mordor." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/mordor.

BibTeX

@misc{mordor_2026,
  title = {Mordor},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/mordor},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}