brothel

brothel

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɔθəl/, /ˈbɹɔðəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɒθəl/, (obsolete) /ˈbɹɒðəl/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɑθəl/, /ˈbɹɑðəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒθəl, -ɒðəl
• Hyphenation: broth‧el

Etymology 1

Short for brothel-house (“house of prostitution”), from brothel (“a wretch; scoundrel; lecher; harlot; prostitute”) + house, influenced by bordel. For more on brothel (“a wretch”), see below.

Noun

brothel (plural brothels)

1. A house of prostitution.

Synonyms

• academy
• bawdy-house
• bordello
• cathouse
• crib
• disorderly house (historical)
• house of ill fame
• house of ill reputation
• house of ill repute
• knocking shop
• leaping house
• lupanar
• massage parlour
• nunnery
• pushing school
• red house
• sauna
• sporting house
• vaulting school
• whorehouse

See also Thesaurus:brothel

Derived terms

• brothel creeper
• brothel-house
• brothel-keeper, brothel keeper, brothelkeeper
• brothel-keeping, brothel keeping, brothelkeeping
• couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel

 

Translations

house of prostitution

Afrikaans: bordeel (af) Albanian: shtëpi publike m, bordello m, bordel (sq) m Arabic: بَيْت دَعَارَة‎ m (bayt daʿāra), مَبْغًى‎ (mabḡan), كَرْخَانَة‎ f (karḵāna), بَيْت التَّسَامُح‎ m (bayt at-tasāmuḥ) Armenian: պոռնկանոց (hy) (poṙnkanocʿ), հասարակաց տուն (hasarakacʿ tun), պոռնկատուն (hy) (poṙnkatun), բորդել (hy) (bordel) Azerbaijani: fahişəxana, əxlaqsızlıq yuvası (euphemistic), qəhbəxana (vulgar) Basque: putetxe (eu) Belarusian: бардэ́ль m (bardélʹ), публі́чны дом m (publíčny dom), дом цярпі́масці m (dom cjarpímasci) Bengali: বেশ্যালয় (beśẏalôyô) Bulgarian: борде́й (bg) m (bordéj), барда́к (bg) m (bardák), публи́чен дом m (publíčen dom) Catalan: bordell (ca) m, prostíbul (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 妓院 (zh) (jìyuàn), 勾欄／勾栏 (zh) (gōulán), 行院 (zh) (hángyuàn), 花柳 (zh) (huāliǔ), 青樓／青楼 (zh) (qīnglóu), 堂子 (zh) (tángzi), 煙花柳巷／烟花柳巷 (zh) (yānhuāliǔxiàng), 窯子／窑子 (zh) (yáozi) Czech: nevěstinec (cs) m, bordel (cs) m Danish: bordel n, horehus (da) n Daur: яус (jaus) Dutch: bordeel (nl) n, hoerenhuis (nl) n, hoerhuis n Esperanto: malĉastejo Estonian: bordell (et), lõbumaja Finnish: bordelli (fi), ilotalo (fi), porttola (fi) French: bordel (fr) m, boxon (fr) m, lupanar (fr) m, maison close (fr) f, maison de tolérance (fr) f, (Belgium) privé (fr) m Galician: bordel (gl) m, burdallo m, alcouce (gl) m Georgian: საროსკიპო (sarosḳiṗo), ბორდელი (bordeli) German: Bordell (de) n, Freudenhaus (de) n, Hurenhaus n, Puff (de) m or n Greek: οίκος ανοχής (el) m (oíkos anochís), πορνείο (el) n (porneío), χαμαιτυπείο (el) n (chamaitypeío) Ancient: πορνοβοσκεῖον n (pornoboskeîon), πορνεῖον n (porneîon), χαμαιτυπεῖον n (khamaitupeîon) Hebrew: בֵּית בֹּשֶׁת‎ (he) m (beit boshet) Hindi: चकला (hi) m (caklā), वेश्यालय m (veśyālay), कोठा (hi) m (koṭhā) Hungarian: bordély (hu), bordélyház (hu), kupleráj (hu), nyilvánosház Icelandic: hóruhús n, pútnahús n, vændishús n Ido: lupanaro (io) Indonesian: bordil (id), rumah pelacuran (id) Italian: bordello (it) m, casino (it) m, casa d'appuntamenti f, postribolo (it) m, lupanare m, casa chiusa f, casa di tolleranza f Japanese: 売春宿 (ばいしゅんやど, baishun'yado), 妓楼 (ja) (ぎろう, girō), 娼館 (しょうかん, shōkan), 女郎屋 (じょろうや, jorōya), 青楼 (ja) (せいろう, seirō), 遊女屋 (ゆうじょや, yūjoya), 娼家 (しょうか, shōka) Kazakh: жезөкшелер үйі (jezökşeler üiı) Khmer: ពេស្យាស្ថាន (peihsyaasthaan), រោងស្រី (roong srəy), រតិគ្រឹះ (rĕəʼtekrɨh) (euphemistic) Korean: 매음굴(賣淫窟) (ko) (maeeumgul), 갈보집 (galbojip), 매춘굴(賣春窟) (maechun'gul) Kyrgyz: бордель (bordelʹ) Lao: ໂຮງໂສເພນີ (hōng sō phē nī) Latin: lupānar n, fornix m Latvian: bordelis m Lithuanian: bordelis m, viešnamis m Low German: German Low German: Bordell n, Horenhuus n Macedonian: јавна куќа f (javna kuḱa), бордел m (bordel), куплера́ј m (kupleráj) Malay: rumah pelacuran Maltese: burdell m Maori: whare kairau Mongolian: Cyrillic: янхны газар (janxny gazar), эмсийн хүрээлэн (emsiin xüreelen), янхны гэр (janxny ger) Nahuatl: ahuiyanicalli Norwegian: Bokmål: bordell m or n, horehus n Nynorsk: bordell m or n, horehus n Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: блѫдилище n (blǫdilište), цѧтоимьство n (cętoimĭstvo) Old English: forliġerhūs n, scandhūs n Persian: فاحشه‌خانه‎ (fâheše-xâne), (vulgar) جنده‌خانه‎ (jende-xâne), روسپی‌خانه‎ (ruspi-xâne), (vulgar) قحبه‌خانه‎ (qahbe-xâne) Plautdietsch: Huarenhus n Polish: agencja towarzyska (pl) f, burdel (pl) m, dom publiczny (pl) m, lupanar (pl) m, zamtuz (pl) m, bajzel (pl) m Portuguese: bordel (pt) m, lupanar (pt) m, prostíbulo (pt) m; (vulgar) putaria (pt) f, puteiro (pt) m (vulgar) Romanian: bordel (ro), lupanar (ro), casă de prostituție (ro) f, casă de toleranță (ro) f Romansch: burdel m Russian: борде́ль (ru) m (bordɛ́lʹ), публи́чный дом (ru) m (publíčnyj dom), дом терпи́мости (ru) m (dom terpímosti), (colloquial) барда́к (ru) m (bardák), (dated) блуди́лище (ru) n (bludílišče), (rare) лупана́рий (ru) m (lupanárij) Sanskrit: वेशवास (sa) m (veśavāsa), कुट्टिनी-गृह n (kuṭṭinī-gṛha), रतिमन्दिर (sa) n (ratimandira), वेश्याजनाश्रय (sa) m (veśyājanāśraya) Scottish Gaelic: taigh-siùrsachd m, taigh-strìopachais m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: блу́дилиште n, бо̀рдел m, бурдељ m, јавна кућа f, куплѐра̄ј m Roman: blúdilište (sh) n, bòrdel (sh) m, burdelj m, javna kuća f, kuplèrāj (sh) m Slovak: bordel m, verejný dom m, nevestinec m Slovene: bordel (sl) m, javna hiša f Spanish: prostíbulo (es) m, puticlub (es) m, bulín (es) m (Peru), burdel (es) m, lupanar (es) m, mancebía (es) f, casa de putas (es) f, casa de citas (es) f Swahili: danguro, madanguro, madangro, dangro Swedish: bordell (sv) c, glädjehus (sv), (vulgar) horhus Tajik: фоҳишахона (fohišaxona) Thai: ซ่อง (th) (sɔ̂ng), โรงหญิงโสเภณี (roong-yǐng-sǒo-pee-nii), ซ่องโสเภณี (sɔ̂ɔng-sǒo-pee-nii) Turkish: genelev (tr), kerhane (tr), umumhane (tr) Turkmen: bordel Ukrainian: борде́ль m (bordélʹ), буди́нок розпу́сти m (budýnok rozpústy), публі́чний буди́нок m (publíčnyj budýnok), дім розпу́сти m (dim rozpústy) Uzbek: fohishaxona (uz), bordel, islavotxona Vietnamese: nhà thổ (vi), nhà chứa (vi) West Frisian: huorrehûs Yiddish: שאַנדהויז‎ n (shandhoyz)

See also

• escort agency
• red-light district
• prostitute

Etymology 2

Middle English brothel, brodel, brodelle, brethel (“a wretch, a depraved man or woman”) (compare also Middle English bretheling (“a wretch”)), apparently from an unrecorded Old English *brēoþel (“degenerative, corruptive”), related to Old English ābrēoþan (“to unsettle, degrade, ruin, frustrate, degenerate, deteriorate, fall away”); Old English ābroþen (“degenerate, base, trifling”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *breuþaną (“to fall apart; crumble”).

The expected modern English form would be *broddle (see fiddle); the failure of the change from /ðl/ to /dl/ may be because of the intervening schwa in the word's uninflected forms, influence from the verb, or most likely, a dialectal development (compare stathel besides staddle).

Noun

brothel (plural brothels)

1. (obsolete) A wretch; a depraved or lewd person.

Anagrams

• Holbert, blother