noun
bordello
bor-DEL-oh/bɔrˈdɛloʊ/
A place where people pay for sexual services.
A woman welcomes a paying customer at the entrance to the wooden bordello.
Etymology
Old French bordel meant both a small hut and a brothel. The useful connection is the specialization of a humble dwelling’s name into a name for a house of prostitution.
In context
some of the best brothels in Paris … who took him to the most famous bordello in Paris
French erotic dancer … she's performing on stage at the house of mirrors bordello.
More examples
- The city records described the operation of the bordello.
- The film examines the lives of workers in a nineteenth-century bordello.
- A former bordello became the subject of the historian’s research.
Forms
bordello · bordellos
Similar words
- brothel
- Brothel is the more usual term for the same kind of establishment.