English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Short for brothel-house (house of prostitution), from brothel (a wretch; scoundrel; lecher; harlot; prostitute) + house, influenced by bordel. For more on brothel (a wretch), see below.

Noun

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brothel (plural brothels)

  1. A house of prostitution.
Synonyms
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See also Thesaurus:brothel

Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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From Middle English brothel, brodel, brodelle, brethel (a wretch, a depraved man or woman) (compare also Middle English bretheling (a wretch)), apparently from an unrecorded Old English *brēoþel (degenerative, corruptive), related to Old English ābrēoþan (to unsettle, degrade, ruin, frustrate, degenerate, deteriorate, fall away); Old English ābroþen (degenerate, base, trifling); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *breuþaną (to fall apart; crumble).

The expected modern English form would be *broddle (see fiddle); the failure of the change from /ðl/ to /dl/ may be because of the intervening schwa in the word's uninflected forms, influence from the verb, or most likely, a dialectal development (compare stathel besides staddle).

Noun

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brothel (plural brothels)

  1. (obsolete) A wretch; a depraved or lewd person.

Anagrams

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