ordinate

Imagine a graph with one axis running left to right and the other going up and down. The ordinate is the vertical value of a point on that graph. In most modern uses, it simply means the y-coordinate, the part that tells you how high or low the point is. If a point is written as (2, 5), then 5 is the ordinate. You will mostly see this word in math, science, and technical writing rather than in everyday conversation, but it is useful when talking about graphs and positions on a plane.

The word ordinate is mostly used in mathematics and related fields. In modern English, it usually means the y-coordinate of a point: the value that shows a point's position on the vertical axis. If you write a point as (x, y), the second number is the ordinate. So in (4, 7), the ordinate is 7.

You can think of it as the "up-and-down" part of a location. On a graph, one number tells you how far left or right to go, and the other tells you how far up or down to go. That second part is the ordinate. Together with the abscissa, which is the x-coordinate, it helps fix the exact position of a point on a plane.

You are not likely to hear this word in casual speech, but it still appears in textbooks, technical explanations, engineering, computer graphics, and data work. In some older or broader uses, ordinate can mean a coordinate measured in a given direction, not only the y-value. Still, if you meet the word today, it will usually mean the vertical coordinate on a graph.

In short, the ordinate is the vertical part that tells you where something sits in two-dimensional space. It is a formal word, and a somewhat old-fashioned one, but it remains useful when precise mathematical language is needed.