brothel: [14] Originally, brothel was a general term of abuse for any worthless or despised person (John Gower, in his Confessio Amantis 1393, writes: ‘Quoth Achab then, there is one, a brothel, which Micheas hight [who is called Micheas]’); it was a derivative of the Old English adjective brothen ‘ruined, degenerate’, which was originally the past participle of the verb brēothan ‘deteriorate’ (possibly a relative of brēotan ‘break’, which may be connected with brittle).
In the late 15th century we have the first evidence of its being applied specifically to a ‘prostitute’. Thence came the compound brothel-house, and by the late 16th century this had been abbreviated to brothel in its current sense.
brothel (n.)
"bawdy house," 1590s, shortened from brothel-house, from brothel "prostitute" (late 15c.), earlier "vile, worthless person" of either sex (14c.), from Old English broðen past participle of breoðan "deteriorate, go to ruin," from Proto-Germanic *breuthan "to be broken up," related to *breutan "to break" (see brittle). In 16c. brothel-house was confused with unrelated bordel (see bordello) and the word shifted meaning from a person to a place.
实用例句
1. She ran a brothel in Soho.
她在索霍区开了一家妓院.来自《简明英汉词典》
2. He used to visit a brothel in Paris.
他以前常到巴黎的一家妓院.来自《简明英汉词典》
3. She works in a brothel in Brighton.
她在布赖顿的一家妓院工作.来自《简明英汉词典》
4. That was much cheaper than going to a brothel.
嫖不如偷,对,偷省钱.来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
5. He ran a brothel in Acuna , Mexico for over 50 years.
