It was redesignated a prefecture-level city and renamed to Ordos on 26 February 2001. "Ordos" means "palaces" in the Mongolian language."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."