Nearby Words
noun
a house of prostitution.
Origin:
1350–1400 for earlier sense; short for brothel-house whore-house; Middle English brothel harlot, orig. worthless person, equivalent to broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan to decay, degenerate) + -el noun suffix
1350–1400 for earlier sense; short for brothel-house whore-house; Middle English brothel harlot, orig. worthless person, equivalent to broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan to decay, degenerate) + -el noun suffix
Related forms
broth·el·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To brothel
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Brothel
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Example Sentences
- The brothel business model is more vulnerable than it looks.
- Klein wants to destroy the villa's cherry orchard to build a gaudy shopping mall, complete with brothel.
- If the brothel requires customers to sleep with girls in the brothel, then that suggests that she is imprisoned.
Collins
World English Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
brothel
"bawdy house," 1590s, shortened from brothel-house, from brothel "prostitute" (late 15c.), earlier "vile, worthless person" of either sex (14c.), from O.E. broðen pp. of breoðan "deteriorate, go to ruin," from P.Gmc. *breuthanan, var. of *breutanan "to break" (cf.
EXPAND brittle). In 16c. brothel-house was confused with unrelated bordel (see bordello) and shifted meaning from a person to a place.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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