Other forms: brothels
A brothel is a house where prostitutes work. Raid the brothel, run a brothel, work in a brothel.
The law varies sharply: selling sex is legal in Britain but keeping a brothel is not, which pushes people to work alone and is argued to make them less safe. Sex worker is the term preferred by those who do the work. The word once meant a worthless person.
1nounbrothelA house where prostitutes work.
“The police raided a brothel in the city centre.”
brothel is a house.
Short for brothel house, from Middle English brothel, a worthless person, influenced by Old French bordel, a small hut.
Built from
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA