brothel

• n. 妓院

来自break的比喻义，原指堕落的人，后指妓女，最后指妓女呆的地方。

brothel

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.

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.

他在墨西哥的阿库那经营一家妓院超过50年了.

来自电影对白