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

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

With its sallow-faced subject reclining among monstrous sunflowers and African sculptures, it’s a radically neurasthenic, underground image of an odalisque.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2014

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

If "odalisque" had been what Ray called an objectionable word, he would have thrown the picture out in the first place.

From The Song of the Lark by Willa Sibert Cather