different between whorehouse vs brothel

English

Alternative forms

• whore-house

Etymology

From Middle English horehous, equivalent to whore +? house. Cognate with Dutch hoerenhuis (“whorehouse”), German Hurenhaus (“whorehouse”), Danish horehus (“whorehouse”), Swedish horhus (“whorehouse”), Icelandic hóruhús (“whorehouse; brothel”).

Pronunciation

Noun

whorehouse (plural whorehouses)

1. (vulgar) Brothel.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:brothel

Hypernyms

• house

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b????l/, /?b??ð?l/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b????l/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /?b????l/, /?b??ð?l/
• Rhymes: -???l, -?ð?l
• Hyphenation: broth?el

Etymology 1

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

brothel (plural brothels)

1. A house of prostitution.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:brothel

Derived terms

• brothel-keeper, brothel keeper, brothelkeeper
• brothel-keeping, brothel keeping, brothelkeeping

Translations

See also

• escort agency
• red-light district
• prostitute

Etymology 2

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 *br?oþel (“degenerative, corruptive”), related to Old English ?br?oþan (“to unsettle, degrade, ruin, frustrate, degenerate, deteriorate, fall away”); Old English ?broþen (“degenerate, base, trifling”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *breuþan? (“to fall apart; crumble”).

Noun

brothel (plural brothels)

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

Anagrams

• Holbert, blother