• vi. 賣淫，娼妓
• n. 娼妓，淫婦

來自古英語hore,妓女，來自PIE*ka,愛，喜歡，渴望，詞源同cherish,charity,caress,委婉語。比較urine.

whore

whore: [OE] A whore is etymologically a ‘lover’. The word goes back ultimately to the Indo- European base *qār-, which also produced Latin cārus ‘dear’ (source of English caress and charity), Old Irish caraim ‘I love’, and Latvian kārs ‘randy, greedy’. It gave prehistoric Germanic *khōrōn, which evolved into German hure, Dutch hoer, Swedish hora, Danish hore, and English whore (whose wh- spelling first appeared in the 16th century).
=> caress, charity

whore (n.)

1530s spelling alteration (see wh-) of Middle English hore, from Old English hore "prostitute, harlot," from Proto-Germanic *horaz (fem. *horon-) "one who desires" (cognates: Old Norse hora "adulteress," Danish hore, Swedish hora, Dutch hoer, Old High German huora "whore;" in Gothic only in the masc. hors "adulterer, fornicator," also as a verb, horinon "commit adultery"), from PIE *ka- "to like, desire," a base that has produced words in other languages for "lover" (cognates: Latin carus "dear;" Old Irish cara "friend;" Old Persian kama "desire;" Sanskrit Kama, name of the Hindu god of love, kamah "love, desire," the first element in Kama Sutra).

Whore itself is perhaps a Germanic euphemism for a word that has not survived. The Old English vowel naturally would have yielded *hoor, which is the pronunciation in some dialects; it might have shifted by influence of Middle English homonym hore "physical filth, slime," also "moral corruption, sin," from Old English horh. The wh- form became current 16c. A general term of abuse for an unchaste or lewd woman (without regard to money) from at least c. 1200. Of male prostitutes from 1630s. Whore of Babylon is from Rev. xvii:1, 5, etc. In Middle English with occasional plural forms horen, heoranna.

The word, with its derivatives, is now avoided polite speech; its survival in literature, so as it survives, is due to the fact that it is a favorite word with Shakspere (who uses it, with its derivatives, 99 times) and is common in the authorized English version of the Bible ... though the American revisers recommended the substitution of harlot as less gross .... [Century Dictionary]

Some equivalent words in other languages also derive from sources not originally pejorative, such as Bohemian nevestka, diminutive of nevesta "bride;" Dutch deern, German dirne originally "girl, lass, wench;" also perhaps Old French pute, perhaps literally "girl," fem. of Vulgar Latin *puttus (but perhaps rather from Latin putidus "stinking;" see poontang). Welsh putain "whore" is from French, probably via Middle English. Among other languages, Greek porne "prostitute" is related to pernemi "sell," with an original notion probably of a female slave sold for prostitution; Latin meretrix is literally "one who earns wages" (source of Irish mertrech, Old English miltestre "whore, prostitute").

The vulgar Roman word was scortum, literally "skin, hide." Another term was lupa, literally "she-wolf" (preserved in Spanish loba, Italian lupa, French louve; see wolf (n.)). And of course there was prostituta, literally "placed in front," thus "publicly exposed," from the fem. past participle of prostituere (see prostitute (n.)). Another Old Norse term was sk?kja, which yielded Danish sk?ge, Swedish sk?ka; probably from Middle Low German schoke, which is perhaps from schode "foreskin of a horse's penis," perhaps with the sense of "skin" (compare Latin scortum) or perhaps via an intermediary sense of "vagina." Spanish ramera, Portuguese ramiera are from fem. form of ramero "young bird of prey," literally "little branch," from ramo "branch." Breton gast is cognate with Welsh gast "bitch," of uncertain origin. Compare also strumpet, harlot.

Old Church Slavonic ljubodejica is from ljuby dejati "fornicate," a compound from ljuby "love" + dejati "put, perform." Russian bljad "whore" derives from Old Church Slavonic bladinica, from bladu "fornication." Polish nierz?dnica is literally "disorderly woman." Sanskrit vecya is a derivation of veca- "house, dwelling," especially "house of ill-repute, brothel." Another term, pumccali, means literally "one who runs after men." Avestan jahika is literally "woman," but only of evil creatures; another term is kunairi, from pejorative prefix ku- + nairi "woman."

whore (v.)

"to have to do with whores," 1580s, from whore (n.). Related: Whored; whoring.

1. She is just a two - bit whore.

她只是一個不入流的娼妓.

來自辭典例句

2. The woman's a whore, and there's an end.

那個女人是個**, 這就是結論.

來自辭典例句

3. Even if she were a virtueless woman , or a shameless whore, she would be Queen nevertheless.

但縱然沒有任何德性,縱然不過是個娼妓,那時候, 她也仍舊是王后.

來自漢英文學 - 散文英譯

4. So the message is, I should treat every woman like a whore?

你要傳達的訊息就是我要像對待**一樣對待每個女人?

來自電影對白

5. Besides, he has a whore in Rome who calls herself a princess.

此外, 他在羅馬還勾搭上了一個娼妓,她管自己叫公主.

來自電影對白