Added 9 October 2026
whore
/hɔː/ noun
In Latin: meretrix, spintria, nonaria Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about whore at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money.
verb
- Work as a prostitute.
- Have unlawful sex with a whore.
-
Compromise oneself for money or other gains.
She whored herself to Hollywood
Origin
From Middle English hore, from Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros (“loved”), from *keh₂- (“to wish; desire”). Cognate with Dutch hoer, German Hure, Old Norse hóra as well as Sanskrit चारु (cā́ru, “dear”), Latin cārus (“dear, expensive”), and Irish cara (“friend”). The unetymological spelling with wh- superficially denotes a formerly standard pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ (such as in whole), but such a form is hardly found in either commentators on Early Modern English pronunciations or records of traditional dialects (which both explicitly mention its rarity or absence), therefore leaving the spelling somewhat inexplicable.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)