Home › Glossary › Letter O

Ogress

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A monstrous female giant, often cannibalistic, found in fairy tales and folklore, symbolizing devouring maternal energy and unchecked desire.

Detailed Definition
Ogresses in poetry represent the terror of the maternal gone awry—nurturing turned predatory. They appear in feminist and psychoanalytic verse as metaphors for suppressed rage, the devouring nature of societal expectations, and the monstrous feminine reclaimed.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ogress; In a fairy-tale reimagining: “The Ogress baked her children in pies of cinnamon and sorrow—then wept as they sang from her belly, sweet and whole”;
Additional Notes
Ogress is a monstrous female giant, often cannibalistic, found in fairy tales and folklore, symbolizing devouring maternal energy, unchecked appetite, or the terror of the maternal body. In poetry, she is reclaimed as a metaphor for the silenced rage of mothers, the body as site of consumption, or the fear of female autonomy. Poets use her to challenge the vilification of the maternal grotesque—think of Baba Yaga or the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
Also Known As
Ogress Woman Monster Woman
Skip to main content