Other forms: courtesans
A courtesan was a prostitute with wealthy or noble clients. A famous courtesan, kept as a courtesan, the courtesan's salon.
The word belongs to history, and the position was quite unlike ordinary prostitution: some courtesans were educated, wealthy and politically influential, and a few ran salons that mattered. It came from the Italian for a woman of the court.
1nouncourtesanA prostitute with wealthy or noble clients.
“In the novel, a Parisian courtesan becomes the lover of a rich young nobleman.”
courtesan is a person.
Italian cortigiana is the feminine of cortigiano, a courtier, from corte, a court.
Latin
cohors
Italian
cortigiana
Middle French
courtisane
English, today
courtesan
Built from
Middle French courtisane, from Italian cortigiana, feminine of cortigiano (“courtier”), from corte (“court”), itself from Latin cohors.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA