brothel
[ broth-uhl, broth-, braw-thuhl, -thuhl ]
noun
a house of prostitution.
Origin of brothel
1First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; short for brothel-house “whorehouse”; Middle English brothel “harlot,” originally, “worthless person,” from broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan “to decay, degenerate”) + -el, noun suffix
Other words from brothel
- broth·el·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for brothel
brothel
/ (ˈbrɒθəl) /
noun
a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes
Australian informal any untidy or messy place
Origin of brothel
1C16: short for brothel-house, from C14 brothel useless person, from Old English brēothan to deteriorate; related to briethel worthless
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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