whore

/hɔː/US/hɔɚ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

whore noun: synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment.

Noun

whore (plural whores)

(derogatory, vulgar) Synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment.
- The merciless Macdonald – worthy to be a rebel, for that the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him – from the Western Isles of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied, and fortune on his damned quarrel smiling showed like a rebel's whore.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- I come looking for a job
  But I get no offers
  Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records
Synonyms:

prostitute
(derogatory, vulgar) A person who is sexually promiscuous; a slut.
- He cals her on a ſudden, all to naught; ſhe is a ſtrumpet, a light huswife, a bitch, an arrant whore.1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of Iealousie, Fear, Sorrow, Suspition, Strange Actions, Gestures, Outrages, Locking Up, Oathes, Trials, Lawes, &c.”, in The Anatomy of...
- So after he fucks the shit out of me, he tells me I'm lying about his whore not being Brad.2004, Dennis Cooper, The Sluts, page 250
(derogatory, vulgar) A person who is unscrupulous, especially one who compromises their principles for gain.
- You're smart. They're all whores.1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Mrs. Laudner (Frances Bergen)
- Dude: Since when did you become a political whore?
  Phil: I prefer the term political slut, thank you very much!2004 February 12, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic
(derogatory, vulgar) A person who will violate behavioral standards to achieve something desired.
- Vidal is at once more detached and more preoccupied with his own view, celebrating an aristocracy of sensibility constantly thwarted and ignored by those mere whores after fame, the statesmen and politicians.1982, Daniel Hoffman with Leo Braudy, Harvard guide to contemporary American writing
- By that time, Tejeda had already been accused of beating his wife, abandoning his children, living in sin with another woman, being a whore for the insurance lobby, and accepting bribes.1990 June, Mother Jones Magazine, volume 15, number 4, page 9
(derogatory, vulgar) A contemptible person.
- "Begone," Clare shouted. She could not bring herself to kill in cold blood. "Begone, or I'll shoot."
  "Idiot whore," he shouted back. "You would not dare."1999 August, Rod Garcia y Robertson, “Strongbow”, in Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 97, number 2, page 4
- I don't need that Lamont Cranston to tell me. Every Irishman knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. We've known since the time of that rotten ould whore, Elizabeth the Bloody First!2000 Spring, Pete Hamill, “The Fenian Ram”, in World of Hibernia, volume 5, number 4, page 72

Verb

whore (third-person singular simple present whores, present participle whoring, simple past and past participle whored)

(derogatory, intransitive, vulgar) To prostitute oneself.
- In the morn he laughingly said we could go out whoring together & make some extra cash.1973 January 6, Lou Sullivan, Diary
Synonyms:

sell one's body
(derogatory, intransitive, vulgar) To engage the services of a prostitute.
(derogatory, transitive, vulgar) To pimp; to pander.

Synonyms:

pander
(derogatory, transitive, vulgar) To promote shamelessly.
- Did you see him on that chat show, whoring his new book?
Synonyms:

tout, pimp
(derogatory, intransitive, vulgar) To pursue false gods.
(derogatory, intransitive, vulgar) To pursue false goals.
- As for those whose hearts go a whoring after the world, and who set their affections on the things of the earth, they cannot love his appearing1856, Matthew Henry, An exposition of the Old and New Testament, volume 2, page 42
- Whoring after fame, rushing into print, "scoring a scoop,"— alas! some scientists are too human.1967, Hawaiian Historical Society, The Hawaiian journal of history, volume 1
(derogatory, slang, transitive, vulgar) To overuse something.
- BTW, that guy whuz still an asshole - camping the BFG and whoring the quad - I usually leave BFG maps but stuck around on that one and suicided quite a bit (3 times I got to about -10 frags, then came back to 0...).

whore meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

whore in Hindi

prostitute: वेश्या veśyā, रंडी raṇḍī
sexually promiscuous person: रंडी raṇḍī, वेश्या veśyā
to prostitute oneself: वेश्यावृत्ति veśyāvŕtti

whore in Urdu

prostitute: ویشیا veśyā, رنڈی raṅḍī

whore in Bengali

prostitute: বেশ্যা beśśa

More languagesFewer languages

whore in Telugu: లంజ lañja
whore in Malayalam: വേശ്യ vēśya
whore in Kannada: ಸೂಳೆ sūḷe
whore in Sanskrit: रूपाजीवा rūpājīvā
whore in Pashto: فاحشه fāhešá, کنچنۍ kənčənᶕy, کاسيره kāsíra
whore in Arabic: عَاهِرَة ʕāhira, زَانِيَّة zāniyya, قَحْبَة qaḥba, شَرْمُوطَة šarmūṭa
whore in Malay: pelacur
whore in Indonesian: cabo, pelacur, sundal, placur
whore in Persian: جنده jende, فاحشه fâheše
whore in Thai: โสเภณี sǒo-pee-nii, แพศยา pɛ̂ɛt-sà-yǎa
whore in Vietnamese: đĩ, gái điếm
whore in Myanmar: ဇိမ်မယ် jimmai, ပြည့်တန်ဆာ prany.tanhca, အပြာမယ် a.pramai

Examples of whore in a sentence

a shameless hack—such a whore for the money—that he wouldn't even lend his name to his creations.1997, John Irving, A Son of the Circus:
I don't want to be a media whore," says Babydol.1999 October, Los Angeles Magazine, volume 44, number 10, page 186:
He whores after power." "And you, my son, lust more decorously?"1973, Herbert Tarr, A time for loving:
Is there any distinction between a nation that whores after a golden calf and one that whores after a black Cadillac?1976, Matthew Fox, Whee! We, wee, all the way home:

Synonyms of whore

All synonyms of whore

Forms of whore

Noun
plural	whores
alternative form	wh*re
alternative form	wh@re
alternative form (obsolete)	whoore
alternative form (derogatory, slang)	ho
alternative form (derogatory, slang)	hoe
Verb
third-person singular present	whores
present participle	whoring
past participle	whored
past	whored

Origin of whore

From Middle English hore, from Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros (“loved”), from *keh₂- (“to wish; desire”). Cognate with Dutch hoer, German Hure, Old Norse hóra as well as Sanskrit चारु (cā́ru, “dear”), Latin cārus (“dear, expensive”), and Irish cara (“friend”). The unetymological spelling with wh- superficially denotes a formerly standard pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ (such as in whole), but such a form is hardly found in either commentators on Early Modern English pronunciations or records of traditional dialects (which both explicitly mention its rarity or absence), therefore leaving the spelling somewhat inexplicable. However, this may be because such an excrescent /w/ was absorbed by a following /uː/ (as in words with etymological /w/ such as whom, two) after it became established in the spelling but before our earliest orthoepic records.

Words formed from whore

Phrases with whore

9 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with whore

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about whore

What does whore mean?: Whore means synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment.
What is whore in Hindi?: Whore in Hindi is वेश्या (veśyā), रंडी (raṇḍī), वेश्यावृत्ति (veśyāvŕtti). See Whore meaning in Hindi.
How do you use whore in a sentence?: a shameless hack—such a whore for the money—that he wouldn't even lend his name to his creations.
What part of speech is whore?: Whore can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce whore?: Whore is pronounced /hɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of whore?: The plural of whore is whores.

Words near whore in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: whore (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-whore.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-whore.wav.

Cite this entry: “whore.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whore. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.