Standard Lemma guide

harlot

adj · noun · verb · 6 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɑːlət/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈhɑɹlət/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AA1 R L AH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Wanton; lewd; low; base.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncommon

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adult, bawdy, blue, cheeky, dirty, indecent, filthy, gross, harlot, impure, ithyphallic, lewd, licentious, mucky, naughty, near the knuckle, obscene, off-colour, racy, raunchy, ribald, ribaudred, ribaudrous, risqué, rorty, salacious, saucy, shocking, sluttish, slutlike, slutty, smutty, spicy, tartish, tarty, trampy, vulgar

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A female prostitute.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, derogatory, offensive

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

3

noun

Meaning 3

A female who is considered promiscuous.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, offensive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: skeezer, slut, whore, hussy, NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise., 304, alley cat, alleycat, amorette, amoret, amorosa, article, Athanasian wench, blowsabella, bop, chippy, cocotte, cockatrice, cockslut, cockwhore, crumpet, cum dumpster, cum guzzler, cumhole, cumslut, cumwhore, Cyprian, demimondaine, doxy, drab, eager beaver, Essex girl, flirt-gill, floogy, floosie, floosy, floozie, floozy, fornicator, fornicatour, fornicatress, fornicatrix, fuckstress, Fulham virgin, geebag, giglot, gillian, gill, good-time girl, grim, grisette, harlot, ho bag, ho-bag, hoe bag, hoe-bag, hoe, hoochie mama, hoochie, hood rat, ho, jade, jay, jillflirt, lady of light virtue, LBFM, light-o'-love, light-of-love, lightskirt, little brown fucking machine, loose woman, lorette, mab, manizer, minx, moll, mort wap-apace, nymphomaniac, painted Jezebel, puta, puzzel, quean, Quicumque vult, quiff, rig, scag, scrubber, skank, skettle, sket, skit, slag, slapper, slattern, sloven, slutbag, stale, streel, strumpet, sweet cheeks, tartlet, tart, thotty, thot, town bicycle, town bike, tramp, treddle, trollop, trull, village bicycle, village bike, wagon, waistcoateer, wanton, wench

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A churl; a common man; a person, male or female, of low birth, especially one given to low conduct.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rake, hussy, antimodel, bad guy, baddie, bastard, beggar, blackguard, bounder, cad, cockatrice, coistril, evildoer, fustilarian, harlot, heavy, knave, lidderon, makeshift, miscreant, ne'er-do-well, niding, nithing, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scab, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, scum, scumbag, thug, undesirable, varlet, villain

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To play the harlot; to practice lewdness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: harlotize, blissom, chamber, colt, gill, harlot, minx, rake, rig, slut, trollop, wanton, wantonize

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: prostitute, cocotte, whore, bawd, tart, cyprian, fancy woman, working girl, sporting lady, lady of pleasure, woman of the street

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: woman, adult female

Narrower terms: call girl, camp follower, comfort woman, ianfu, demimondaine, streetwalker, street girl, hooker, hustler, floozy, floozie, slattern, white slave

History

Etymology

From Middle English harlot, from Old French harlot, herlot, arlot (“vagabond; tramp”), of obscure origin. Likely to be ultimately of Germanic origin, either from a derivation of *harjaz (“army; camp; warrior; military leader”) or from a diminutive of *karilaz (“man; fellow”). Compare English carlot.

Across languages

Translations

78 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: блудница (bludnica) — a female prostitute
  • Bulgarian: проститутка (prostitutka) — a female prostitute
  • Catalan: maturranga — a female prostitute
  • Catalan: prostituta — a female prostitute
  • Chinese Mandarin: 妓女 (jìnǚ) — a female prostitute
  • Danish: skøge — a female prostitute
  • Dutch: hoer — a female prostitute
  • Dutch: prostituee — a female prostitute
  • Dutch: temeier — a female prostitute
  • French: prostituée — a female prostitute
  • French: putain — a female prostitute
  • French: catin — a female prostitute
  • French: pute — a female prostitute
  • French: fille de joie — a female prostitute
  • Galician: bordiona — a female prostitute
  • Galician: bagaxa — a female prostitute
  • Galician: baldreu — a female prostitute
  • Galician: beldro — a female prostitute
  • Galician: celenca — a female prostitute
  • Galician: candonga — a female prostitute
  • Galician: maturranga — a female prostitute
  • German: Dirne — a female prostitute
  • German: Hure — a female prostitute
  • German: Nutte — a female prostitute
  • Greek: καριόλα (karióla) — a female prostitute
  • Ancient Greek: πόρνη (pórnē) — a female prostitute
  • Hindi: रण्डी (raṇḍī) — a female prostitute
  • Hindi: गणिका (gaṇikā) — a female prostitute
  • Hindi: वेश्या (veśyā) — a female prostitute
  • Hindi: कुलटा (kulṭā) — a female prostitute
  • Irish: striapach — a female prostitute
  • Irish: drúth — a female prostitute
  • Italian: meretrice — a female prostitute
  • Italian: puttana — a female prostitute
  • Italian: baldracca — a female prostitute
  • Latin: scortum — a female prostitute
  • Latin: meretrix — a female prostitute
  • Macedonian: блу́дница (blúdnica) — a female prostitute
  • Macedonian: ку́рва (kúrva) — a female prostitute
  • Macedonian: курве́тина (kurvétina) — a female prostitute
  • Persian: روسپی (ruspi) — a female prostitute
  • Persian: هرزه (harze) — a female prostitute
  • Persian: جنده (jende) — a female prostitute
  • Persian: فاحشه (fâheše) — a female prostitute
  • Persian: بلایه (balâye) — a female prostitute
  • Plautdietsch: Hua — a female prostitute
  • Polish: nierządnica — a female prostitute
  • Polish: jawnogrzesznica — a female prostitute
  • Polish: lafirynda — a female prostitute
  • Polish: ladacznica — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: puta — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: meretriz — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: messalina — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: cortesã — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: prostituta — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: rameira — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: peripatética — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: mulher da vida — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: mulher de vida fácil — a female prostitute
  • Portuguese: mulher pública f. — a female prostitute
  • Russian: шлю́ха (šljúxa) — a female prostitute
  • Scottish Gaelic: strìopach — a female prostitute
  • Scottish Gaelic: siùrsach — a female prostitute
  • Spanish: puta — a female prostitute
  • Spanish: golfa — a female prostitute
  • Spanish: ramera — a female prostitute
  • Swedish: sköka — a female prostitute
  • Telugu: లంజ (lañja) — a female prostitute
  • Turkish: fahişe — a female prostitute
  • Ottoman Turkish: قالتاق (kaltak) — a female prostitute
  • Ottoman Turkish: مال (mal) — a female prostitute
  • Welsh: putain — a female prostitute
  • Xhosa: .sfebe class Sfebe/Sfebes — a female prostitute
  • German: Schlampe — female considered promiscuous
  • Spanish: zorra — female considered promiscuous
  • Turkish: orospu — female considered promiscuous
  • Ottoman Turkish: قالتاق (kaltak) — female considered promiscuous
  • Ottoman Turkish: مال (mal) — female considered promiscuous