whore
[ hawr, hohr or, often, hoor ]
/ hɔr, hoʊr or, often, hʊər /
noun
verb (used without object), whored, whor·ing.
verb (used with object), whored, whor·ing.
to put to a base or unworthy use (sometimes followed by out): He’s whoring out his skills by writing for popular magazines.
Obsolete. to make a whore of; corrupt; debauch.
Nearby words
whoosis, whoosy, whop, whopper, whopping, whore, whoredom, whorehouse, whorehouse cut, whoremaster, whoremonger
Origin of whore
before 1100; Middle English, Old English hōre; cognate with German Hure, Old Norse hōra; akin to Gothic hors harlot, Latin cārus dear
Word story
As far as etymology goes, whore is unblemished: It’s from Old English hōre, from the Germanic root hō-, extended with a suffixed -r, thus hōr-.
The Germanic root is a regular development of the Proto-Indo-European root kā- “to like, desire” (extended with the same suffixed -r ). Kār- appears in Latin in cārus “dear, beloved, expensive,” and in the noun cāritās “love, affection, high price” (and through Old French, in charity meaning “Christian love”). Kār- appears in the Celtic languages as cara in Irish, and car in Welsh and Breton, all meaning “friend.” In Slavic (Polish), we find kurva.
The unetymological spelling, with initial w- (as also occurs in whole ), became common about 1600.
Nell Gwyn (1650-87), one of King Charles II’s numerous mistresses, made the best comeback ever recorded: When she was surrounded in her coach by a Protestant mob who thought she was Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth (1649–1734), a Catholic woman and another of King Charles’s mistresses, Nell leaned out of her coach and shouted down the mob with “Pray good people be civil, I am the King’s Protestant whore.”
The Germanic root is a regular development of the Proto-Indo-European root kā- “to like, desire” (extended with the same suffixed -r ). Kār- appears in Latin in cārus “dear, beloved, expensive,” and in the noun cāritās “love, affection, high price” (and through Old French, in charity meaning “Christian love”). Kār- appears in the Celtic languages as cara in Irish, and car in Welsh and Breton, all meaning “friend.” In Slavic (Polish), we find kurva.
The unetymological spelling, with initial w- (as also occurs in whole ), became common about 1600.
Nell Gwyn (1650-87), one of King Charles II’s numerous mistresses, made the best comeback ever recorded: When she was surrounded in her coach by a Protestant mob who thought she was Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth (1649–1734), a Catholic woman and another of King Charles’s mistresses, Nell leaned out of her coach and shouted down the mob with “Pray good people be civil, I am the King’s Protestant whore.”
Definition for whore (2 of 2)
who're
[ hoo-er ]
/ ˈhu ər /
contraction of who are: Who're the people at the next table?
Usage note
See contraction.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for whore
whore
/ (hɔː) /
noun
a prostitute or promiscuous woman: often a term of abuse
verb (intr)
to be or act as a prostitute
(of a man) to have promiscuous sexual relations, esp with prostitutes
(often foll by after) to seek that which is immoral, idolatrous, etc
Derived Forms
whorish, adjectivewhorishly, adverbwhorishness, nounWord Origin for whore
Old English hōre; related to Old Norse hōra, Old High German hvora, Latin carus dear
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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