brothel
Syllables: broth·elUK/ˈbɹɒθəl//ˈbɹɔθəl/
brothel noun: a house of prostitution.
Noun (1)
brothel (plural brothels)
- A house of prostitution.
- Thus, during the last four years, I have visited brothels about every ten days or two weeks. Only seldom does coitus fail; for I have learned my peculiarities, and in the choice of a prostitute know immediately whether she will excite me or have no effect.1893, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, “Congenital Homo-sexuality”, in Charles Gilbert Chaddock, transl., Psychopathia Sexualis, The F. A. Davis Co., page 245
- Only women already existing in the social margins became actresses.²⁶ For example, celebrated tragedienne Elizabeth Barry was an orphan, Nell Gwynn a barmaid raised in a brothel, Moll Davis the illegitimate daughter of a Colonel. Other actresses were the wives and daughters of male actors, as for...2003, Rob Baum, Female Absence: Women, Theatre, and Other Metaphors, Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 89
- Synonyms:
- academy, bawdy-house, bordello, cathouse, crib, disorderly house, house of accommodation, house of ill fame, house of ill reputation, house of ill repute
Noun (2)
brothel (plural brothels)
brothel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
brothel in Hindi
- house of prostitution
- चकला caklā, वेश्यालय veśyālay, कोठा koṭhā
brothel in Tamil
- பரத்தையர் மனை, விலை மகளிர் இல்லம், விலை மகளிர் விடுதி
brothel in Marathi
- house of prostitution
- वेश्यागृह veśyāgŕh
brothel in Urdu
- house of prostitution
- چَکْلَہ cakla, کوٹھا koṭhā
More languagesFewer languages
- brothel in Bengali
- বেশ্যালয় beśśaloẏ
- brothel in Telugu
- వేశ్యాలయం, వేశ్యాగృహం
- brothel in Malayalam
- വേശ്യാലയം, ഗണികാഗൃഹം, തേവിടിപ്പുര, പുരം
- brothel in Kannada
- ವೇಶ್ಯಾವಾಟಿಕೆ, ಸೂಳೆಯರ ಮನೆ, ವೇಶ್ಯಾವಾಸ
- brothel in Punjabi
- ਚਕਲਾ caklā, ਯਾਹੂਖ਼ਾਨਾ yāhūxānā, ਕੰਜਰਖ਼ਾਨਾ kañjraxānā
- brothel in Gujarati
- વેશ્યાલય, વેશ્યાગૃહ
- brothel in Odia
- ବେଶ୍ଯ଼ାଲଯ଼, ବେଶ୍ଯ଼ାଗୃହ
- brothel in Sanskrit
- वेशवास veśavāsa, कुट्टिनी-गृह kuṭṭinī-gṛha, रतिमन्दिर ratimandira, वेश्याजनाश्रय veśyājanāśraya
- brothel in Nepali
- कोठि koṭhi
- brothel in Arabic
- بَيْت دَعَارَة bayt daʕāra, مَبْغًى mabḡan, كَرْخَانَة karḵāna, بَيْت التَّسَامُح bayt at-tasāmuḥ
- brothel in Malay
- rumah pelacuran, rumah ayam
- brothel in Indonesian
- bordil, rumah pelacuran
- brothel in Thai
- ซ่อง sɔ̂ng, โรงหญิงโสเภณี roong-yǐng-sǒo-pee-nii, ซ่องโสเภณี sɔ̂ɔng-sǒo-pee-nii
- brothel in Vietnamese
- nhà thổ, nhà chứa
Examples of brothel in a sentence
- The vice squad went after the numbers rackets, dice games, and brothels in an attempt to clean up the rampant lawlessness.
- Now if you all follow me to the first brothel house on reaper street.
- The rumor goes that Rochelle was so laviscious that even the brothel threw her out.
Synonyms of brothel
- academy
- bawdy-house
- bordello
- cathouse
- crib
- disorderly house
- house of accommodation
- house of ill fame
- house of ill reputation
- house of ill repute
27 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- knocking shop
- leaping house
- lupanar
- massage parlour
- nunnery
- pushing school
- red house
- sauna
- sporting house
- vaulting school
- whorehouse
- bagnio
- bawdy house
- bawdyhouse
- brothel house
- cat house
- cat-house
- escort agency
- fuckhouse
- hookshop
- riding academy
- whore-house
- common house
- leaping-house
- prostibule
- stew
- wapping ken
Forms of brothel
| plural | brothels |
|---|
Origin of brothel
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.
From 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).
Words formed from brothel
- antibrothel
- brothel creeper
- brotheler
- Brothelgate
- brothelgoer
- brothel-house
- brothel-keeper
- brothel keeper
- brothelkeeper
- brothel-keeping
- brothel keeping
- brothelkeeping
- brothellike
- brothelly
- brothelry
- couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel
- embrothel
Phrases with brothel
Questions about brothel
- What does brothel mean?
- Brothel means a house of prostitution.
- What is brothel in Hindi?
- Brothel in Hindi is चकला (caklā), वेश्यालय (veśyālay), कोठा (koṭhā). See Brothel meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is brothel?
- Brothel is a noun.
- How do you pronounce brothel?
- Brothel is pronounced /ˈbɹɔθəl/ (US).
- What is the plural of brothel?
- The plural of brothel is brothels.
Words near brothel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brothel (page history and authors); brothel (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brothel (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brothel (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); brothel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brothel (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brothel (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); कोठि (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-brothel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brothel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brothel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.