brothel

Meaning

Noun

• A house of prostitution.
• A wretch; a depraved or lewd person.

Related

Similar words

• academy
• bawdy-house
• bordello
• cathouse
• crib
• disorderly house
• 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

Origin

• Short for brothel house, from brothel + house, influenced by bordel. For more on brothel, see below.
• Middle English brothel, brodel, brodelle, brethel (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").