Prostitutor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who engages in offering sexual services in exchange for money or goods
2. An individual who provides intimacy or sexual acts for financial compensation
3. Someone who sells sexual favors as a means of livelihood or economic gain

Etymology: "Prostitutor" is formed by adding the agent suffix "-or" to "prostitute." That suffix, borrowed from Latin "-or" and used in English to name a person who performs an action, is what turns the verb-like sense of "prostitute" into a noun for the one doing the act. The pattern is ordinary in English, as in "actor" or "tutor," so the formation itself carries no special story. The more notable point is that "prostitute" itself came into English from Latin "prostituere," meaning "to expose publicly" or "to offer for sale," before narrowing to its current sense of selling sexual services. The base word therefore already carried the idea of putting something forward for sale, and "prostitutor" simply names the one who does the offering.

Synonyms: sex worker, escort, call girl, courtesan