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.

---

odalisque British  

/ ˈəʊdəlɪsk /

noun

1. a female slave or concubine

---

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

See Examples For:

odalisque

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 took her feet off the stool—she was no odalisque to be pampered with footstools and cushions—and she let herself go.

From The Way of Ambition by J. H. Gardner Soper