Standard Lemma guide

courtesan

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kɔːtɪˈzæn/ UK, non-rhotic
  • /ˈkɔːtɪzæn/ UK, non-rhotic
  • /ˈkɔːtɪzən/ UK, non-rhotic
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /kɔɹtɪˈzæn/ UK, rhotic
  • /ˈkɔɹtɪzæn/ UK, rhotic
  • /ˈkɔɹtɪzən/ UK, rhotic
  • US: /ˈkɔɹtɪzən/
  • US: /ˈkɔɹtɪzæn/
  • US: /ˈkoɹtɪzən/
  • US: /ˈkoɹtɪzæn/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A female prostitute, especially one with high-status or wealthy clients.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl, bat, beotch, blouze, blowen, blowsabella, brass nail, brasser, brass, broad, business girl, calico queen, callet, cat, chippy, chromo, coaster, cockatrice, cocotte, comfort girl, comfort woman, commoner, Covent Garden nun, creature of the night, croshabell, daughter of joy, dollymop, doxy, drab, Dutch widow, escort, fille de joie, flap, floozie, fornicatrix, frail sister, Fulham virgin, gamester, gay lady, geebag, gillian, gill, girl of the game, girl rented overnight, good-time girl, GRO, hackney, harlot, Haymarket ware, hireling, 'ho, hoer, hoe, hook, hooker, hustler, Japayuki-san, jay, karayuki-san, laced mutton, lady of leisure, lady of light virtue, lady of pleasure, lady of the evening, lady of the game, lady of the night, lightskirt, loose woman, meat puppet, mermaid, minx, mob, moll, mort wap-apace, mot, mud kicker, mud-kicker, mudkicker, musk cat, mutton, nun, nymph of darkness, nymph of the pavé, nymph of the pavement, painted lady, Paphian, party girl, pavement princess, perdita, pimpette, pretty horsebreaker, priestess of Venus, pro skirt, prossie, prossy, pross, prostie, prostitute, prostitutor, prosty, prozzie, prozzy, pro, public woman, pucelle, puella publica, pug, punk, pussygirl, puta, put, quail, quean, quene, quiff, ribibe, scrubber, sex labourer, sex worker, skainsmate, skivvy, slag, slapper, slit, slut, sodomitess, soiled dove, stem siren, stew, street taco, strumpet, succubus, tart, tawaif, thotty, thot, tib, tom, treddle, trick turner, trollop, trug, trull, tweak, vice girl, wanton, wapping dell, wapping moll, wapping mort, wench, whore, woman of easy virtue, woman of ill fame, woman of ill repute, woman of the night, woman of the street, woman of the town, working girl

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The mistress of a royal or noble.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A woman of a royal or noble court.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A fairy chess piece that can move to any adjacent square, that, when captured, the capturing piece is also eliminated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: board-games, chess, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a woman who cohabits with an important man

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: concubine, doxy, paramour

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mistress, kept woman, fancy woman

Narrower terms: odalisque

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French courtisane, from Italian cortigiana, feminine of cortigiano (“courtier”), from corte (“court”), itself from Latin cohors.

Across languages

Translations

59 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: dvorní dáma — woman of court
  • Danish: hofdame — woman of court
  • Finnish: hovinainen — woman of court
  • Galician: cortesá — woman of court
  • German: Hofdame — woman of court
  • Hindi: कंचनी (kañcnī) — woman of court
  • Italian: cortigiana — woman of court
  • Japanese: 宮廷の女 (kyūtei no onna) — woman of court
  • Portuguese: cortesã — woman of court
  • Russian: куртиза́нка (kurtizánka) — woman of court
  • Russian: придво́рная (pridvórnaja) — woman of court
  • Swedish: hovdam — woman of court
  • Finnish: kurtisaani — mistress
  • Polish: kurtyzana — mistress
  • Russian: куртиза́нка (kurtizánka) — mistress
  • Swedish: kurtisan — mistress
  • Arabic: مَحْظِيّة (maḥẓiyya) — high-status prostitute
  • Armenian: կուրտիզանուհի (kurtizanuhi) — high-status prostitute
  • Armenian: պերճաղիճ (perčaġič) — high-status prostitute
  • Belarusian: куртыза́нка (kurtyzánka) — high-status prostitute
  • Bulgarian: куртиза́нка (kurtizánka) — high-status prostitute
  • Catalan: cortesana — high-status prostitute
  • Chinese Mandarin: 妓女 (jìnǚ) — high-status prostitute
  • Chinese Mandarin: 高級妓女 /高级妓女 (gāojí jìnǚ) — high-status prostitute
  • Czech: kurtizána — high-status prostitute
  • Danish: kurtisane — high-status prostitute
  • Dutch: courtisane — high-status prostitute
  • Finnish: seurapiirihuora — high-status prostitute
  • Finnish: kurtisaani — high-status prostitute
  • French: courtisane — high-status prostitute
  • Galician: cortesá — high-status prostitute
  • German: Kurtisane — high-status prostitute
  • Greek: κοκότα (kokóta) — high-status prostitute
  • Ancient Greek: ἑταίρα (hetaíra) — high-status prostitute
  • Hungarian: kurtizán — high-status prostitute
  • Hungarian: kéjnő — high-status prostitute
  • Italian: prostituta — high-status prostitute
  • Italian: cortigiana — high-status prostitute
  • Japanese: 娼婦 (shōfu) — high-status prostitute
  • Japanese: 高級娼婦 (kōkyū shōfu) — high-status prostitute
  • Korean: 창녀 (changnyeo) — high-status prostitute
  • Korean: 고급 창녀 (gogeup changnyeo) — high-status prostitute
  • Latin: meretrix — high-status prostitute
  • Macedonian: куртиза́на (kurtizána) — high-status prostitute
  • Manx: streebagh — high-status prostitute
  • Nahuatl: āhuiyani — high-status prostitute
  • Polish: kurtyzana — high-status prostitute
  • Portuguese: cortesã — high-status prostitute
  • Romanian: curtezană — high-status prostitute
  • Russian: куртиза́нка (kurtizánka) — high-status prostitute
  • Serbo-Croatian: куртиза̀на — high-status prostitute
  • Serbo-Croatian: kurtizàna — high-status prostitute
  • Slovak: kurtizána — high-status prostitute
  • Slovene: kurtizana — high-status prostitute
  • Spanish: cortesana — high-status prostitute
  • Swedish: kurtisan — high-status prostitute
  • Ukrainian: куртиза́нка (kurtyzánka) — high-status prostitute
  • Vietnamese: đĩ quý phái — high-status prostitute
  • Vietnamese: đĩ hạng sang — high-status prostitute
Real reading context

courtesan in complete knowledge articles