Ordos

map of Ordos prefecture-level city, the built-up area in the narrower sense located in the eastern Dongsheng District (highlighted in yellow)

Meaning

region China (country), enclosed by the great northern bend of the Huang He and the Wei river to the south; also called Ordos Loop.
The Ordos region proper: the area north of the Great Wall section that cuts across the Ordos Loop
Ordos prefecture-level city, contiguous with latter region in the northwest of the Ordos Loop, namely the part belonging to Inner Mongolia.
Ordos city in the narrower sense: the urban area located in Dongsheng District.
A Mongolian dialect used in this city.

"Ordos" means "palaces" in Mongolian; Ordos originally referred to a tribe belonging to the Yeke Juu (Ike Chao ‘great monastery’) league and later included the tribe’s area, hence the Ordos, or Ordus, the area within the big bend of the Yellow River. Mongolian ordu(n), ord ‘court, residence of a ruler; palace; camp’, also for 'camp bodyguards'. According to Ramstedt -s is a plural suffix; further: ordu, orda; Turkic orta ‘a center’; Mongolian > Turkish orda ‘camp’ > Hindi urdū > English “horde.” The name is sometimes claimed to be related to the eight white yurts (naiman tsagaan ger) of Genghis Khan.

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