horde
UK[hɔːd]US[hɔːrd]
n
A large, moving crowd of people.
n
A large group of animals, especially insects.
n
A nomadic group or tribe.
Etymology
The word 'horde' entered English in the 16th century from Polish 'horda', which itself was borrowed from Turkic languages, specifically from a word like 'ordu' meaning 'camp' or 'headquarters'. This Turkic term is famously the source of 'Urdu' (the language of the camp) and is related to 'Orda', as in the Golden Horde, the Mongol khanate. The original sense referred to the encampments and, by extension, the vast communities of nomadic Central Asian peoples like the Mongols and Tatars. In English, the meaning generalized from a specific nomadic tribe to any large, often unruly, group of people or animals, carrying connotations of a migratory and formidable mass.
Analysis
The entire word 'horde' is a simplex unit borrowed from Polish. It is not productively formed from smaller, meaningful English morphemes.
Examples
A horde of tourists descended upon the small village.
The picnic was invaded by a horde of ants.
Historical accounts describe the golden horde sweeping across the steppes.