odalisque

American  

[ohd-l-isk] / ˈoʊd l ɪsk /

Or odalisk

noun

1. a female slave or concubine in a harem, especially in that of the sultan of Turkey.

2. (initial capital letter) any of a number of representations of such a woman or of a similar subject, as by Ingres or Matisse.

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odalisque British  

/ ˈəʊdəlɪsk /

noun

1. a female slave or concubine

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Etymology

Origin of odalisque

First recorded in 1675–85; from French, alteration of earlier odalique (with -s- perhaps from -esque -esque ) from Turkish odalιk “female slave, concubine,” equivalent to oda “room, chamber” + -lιk a noun suffix indicating relationship or origin

Example Sentences

Johnson’s “Sleeping Figure” is a mercantile odalisque, draped in orientalist trappings of corporate Asia that are announced by prominent commercial names painted on the railway containers’ sides — Hyundai, Dongfang, Zim, China Shipping and more.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2023

In a Joan Brown painting, a cat might sit pensively in the middle of a Kool-Aid-colored landscape and a woman with the body of a tiger might take the pose of an Ingres odalisque.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 30, 2022

The Moroccan Lalla Essaydi’s multipart image of an odalisque wearing golden jewelry in a golden-tiled room shifts radically when you realize that all the gold is bullet casings.

From New York Times • Dec. 26, 2013

She photographs herself as the schoolgirl, aristocrat, frustrated housewife, film-noir heroine, biker chick, odalisque, demented clown and soap opera diva.

From BusinessWeek • Feb. 27, 2012

She sang, danced, chattered, froze, melted, laughed, cried, flirted, kissed, kicked, cursed, and turned somersaults with the fury of a dervish, the languor of an odalisque, and the inexhaustibility of a hot-spring geyser....

From Mr. Prohack by Bennett, Arnold