Bordello

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɔː(ɹ)ˈdɛləʊ/

Definitions

1. A place that serves as a business for sexual transactions, typically employing multiple workers for such services
2. An establishment dedicated to offering compensated sexual activities, often featuring a variety of individuals for clients to choose from
3. A venue that operates primarily for the purpose of providing paid sexual services, usually staffed by multiple sex workers for clientele

Etymology: The word arrived in English from Italian, where "bordello" was a diminutive built on "borda," a hut or cabin, with the Italian suffix "-ello" attached. The original sense was a small, rough dwelling, and the sexual meaning developed later, in Italian, as the word came to be applied to houses of prostitution. Its close relative "brothel" is a surprise. The two words are doublets, meaning they descend from the same ancestor but reached English by different routes. "Brothel" has an older English history and originally meant a worthless or debauched person before it came to name a place, while "bordello" entered through Italian in the more recent period. Both trace back to a Proto-Indo-European root "bʰer-," meaning to carve, cut, or split, which is also the ancestor of "bordel," the French form that gives the same doublet pairing.

Synonyms: brothel, whorehouse, house of ill repute