brothel
[ broth-uh l, broth -, braw-thuh l, -th uh l ]
/ ˈbrɒθ əl, ˈbrɒð-, ˈbrɔ θəl, -ðəl /
noun
a house of prostitution.
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Origin of brothel
1350–1400 for earlier sense; short for brothel-house whore-house; Middle English brothel harlot, orig. worthless person, equivalent to broth- (past participle stem of brethen, Old English brēothan to decay, degenerate) + -el noun suffix
Related formsbroth·el·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for brothel
The documentary Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, directed by Kitty Green, opens in a most unusual way.
Femen’s Abusive Patriarch, Victor Svyatski, Exposed in 'Ukraine Is Not a Brothel’|Marlow Stern|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEASTOne hour into Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, Green sits down with Victor for an interview.
Femen’s Abusive Patriarch, Victor Svyatski, Exposed in 'Ukraine Is Not a Brothel’|Marlow Stern|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for brothel
brothel
/ (ˈbrɒθəl) /
noun
a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes
Australian informal any untidy or messy place
Word Origin for brothel
C16: short for brothel-house, from C14 brothel useless person, from Old English brēothan to deteriorate; related to briethel worthless
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for brothel
brothel
"bawdy house," 1590s, shortened from brothel-house, from brothel "prostitute" (late 15c.), earlier "vile, worthless person" of either sex (14c.), from Old English broðen past participle of breoðan "deteriorate, go to ruin," from Proto-Germanic *breuthanan, variant of *breutanan "to break" (cf. brittle). In 16c. brothel-house was confused with unrelated bordel (see bordello) and the word shifted meaning from a person to a place.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper