seraglio

Meaning

Noun

• A palace of a sultan.
• A profligate or decadent residence of a rich person.
• The sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines (odalisques) in a Turkish Muslim household.
• A brothel or place of debauchery.
• An interior cage or enclosed courtyard for keeping wild beasts.

Origin

• From Italian serraglio, from Vulgar Latin *serrāculum, from a late form of Latin serāre ("lock up, close"), from sera. The Italian word was used (because of phonetic similarity) to translate Persian سرای. Compare serai, serail.