Thesaurus:prostitute
English
Noun
Sense: person who performs sexual acts for payment
Synonyms
- abandons (UK, archaic, plural only)
- alley cat (figuratively, humorous)
- almah (Egypt)
- bangtail
- Bankside lady (UK, archaic)
- bargirl
- bat (archaic)
- beotch (vulgar, slang)
- blouze (obsolete)
- blowen (obsolete)
- blowsabella (obsolete)
- brass nail (Cockney rhyming slang)
- brasser (Ireland)
- brass (Cockney rhyming slang)
- broad (dated)
- business girl (slang)
- calico queen
- callet
- cat [⇒ thesaurus]
- chippy (US)
- chromo (chiefly Australia)
- coaster (dated)
- cockatrice (obsolete)
- cocotte
- comfort girl
- comfort woman (idiomatic, historical, euphemistic)
- commoner [⇒ thesaurus] (obsolete)
- Covent Garden nun (UK, archaic)
- creature of the night
- croshabell (obsolete)
- daughter of joy (euphemistic)
- dollymop (UK, dated)
- doxy (archaic)
- drab (archaic)
- Dutch widow (archaic)
- escort (euphemistic)
- fille de joie
- flap (obsolete)
- floozie
- fornicatrix
- frail sister (obsolete, euphemistic)
- Fulham virgin (dated, British slang)
- gamester (obsolete)
- gay lady (obsolete, euphemistic)
- geebag (Ireland, slang)
- gillian (obsolete)
- gill (archaic)
- girl rented overnight (chiefly Cebu, dated, slang, offensive)
- good-time girl (euphemistic)
- GRO (Philippines)
- hackney (archaic)
- harlot (dated)
- Haymarket ware (UK, dated)
- hireling (obsolete)
- 'ho (African American Vernacular English)
- hoer
- hoe
- hook
- hooker (US)
- hustler
- Japayuki-san (Philippines, derogatory)
- jay (obsolete)
- karayuki-san (historical)
- KTV girl
- laced mutton (obsolete)
- lady of leisure (euphemistic)
- lady of light virtue
- lady of pleasure
- lady of the evening
- lady of the night
- lightskirt (dated)
- loose woman
- lot lizard (slang)
- meat puppet (US)
- meretrix
- mermaid (obsolete)
- minx (derogatory, dated)
- mob (obsolete)
- moll (Australia)
- mort wap-apace (archaic cant)
- mot (Britain, Ireland, slang)
- mud kicker (slang)
- mud-kicker (slang)
- mudkicker (slang)
- musk cat (obsolete)
- mutton (obsolete)
- nun (UK, archaic)
- nymph of darkness (obsolete)
- nymph of the pavé (obsolete)
- nymph of the pavement (obsolete)
- painted lady (slang, dated or historical)
- Paphian (literary)
- party girl (euphemistic)
- pavement princess
- perdita
- pimpette
- pretty horsebreaker (euphemistic, obsolete)
- priestess of Venus (euphemism)
- pro skirt (slang)
- prossie (UK)
- prossy (UK)
- pross (slang)
- prostie (US)
- prostitute
- prostitutor
- prosty (US)
- prozzie (UK)
- prozzy (UK)
- pro
- public woman
- pucelle (obsolete)
- puella publica (euphemistic, obsolete)
- pug (obsolete)
- punk (historical)
- pussygirl (informal, vulgar)
- puta (vulgar, chiefly US Hispanic)
- put (obsolete)
- quail (obsolete)
- quean (archaic)
- quene (obsolete)
- quiff
- ribibe (obsolete)
- scrubber (UK)
- sex labourer
- sex worker
- skainsmate (obsolete, derogatory, nonce word)
- skivvy (military, dated)
- slag
- slapper (Britain, Ireland, slang)
- slit (vulgar)
- slut (vulgar)
- sodomitess
- soiled dove (obsolete, euphemism)
- stem siren (dated)
- stew (obsolete)
- street taco (US, slang)
- strumpet (archaic)
- succubus
- Suzi Wong (dated, slang, euphemistic)
- Suzie Wong (dated, slang, euphemistic)
- Suzy Wong (dated, slang, euphemistic)
- tart (UK)
- tawaif (South Asia, historical)
- thotty (US, slang)
- thot (US, derogatory, slang)
- tib (obsolete)
- tom (UK)
- treddle
- trick turner
- trollop
- trug (obsolete)
- trull
- tweak (obsolete)
- vice girl
- wanton [⇒ thesaurus] (archaic)
- wapping dell (obsolete, cant)
- wapping moll (obsolete, cant)
- wapping mort (obsolete, cant)
- wench (archaic)
- whore (derogatory)
- woman of easy virtue (euphemistic)
- woman of ill fame (euphemistic)
- woman of ill repute (euphemistic)
- woman of the night (euphemistic)
- woman of the street (euphemistic)
- woman of the town (euphemistic)
- working girl (idiomatic, euphemistic)
Antonyms
- convertite (obsolete)
- Magdalene
- Magdalen
- nonprostitute
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
- asswhore (slang, vulgar, rare)
- auletris (historical, Ancient Greece)
- bodyworker
- bottom bitch
- call girl
- carton girl (Philippines, chiefly Cebu, slang)
- courtesan
- fireship (vulgar, slang)
- gigolo [⇒ thesaurus]
- grande horizontale
- hetæra (historical, Ancient Greece)
- hetaera (historical, Ancient Greece)
- hetaira (historical, Ancient Greece)
- homowhore (slang, rare)
- outlaw (slang)
- pan-pan (dated, slang, mid-20th century)
- pitcher-bawd (nautical, obsolete)
- prostibot (science fiction, slang)
- rock whore (US, slang)
- spinner
- stale (obsolete)
- streetwalker
- streetworker
- white slave
Coordinate terms
(male person who performs sexual acts for payment):
- business boy (slang)
- butcher boy (uncommon, slang, euphemistic)
- callboy
- he-whore (colloquial, vulgar)
- man ho (Canada, US, slang)
- manwhore (vulgar, slang)
- moneyboy (China, Thailand)
- party boy (slang)
- piece of ass (rare, LGBT, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar)
- rent boy (UK, Australia)
(male person who performs sexual acts for payment with some additional characteristics):
- Hollywood hustler (US, slang)
- Rastitute (slang)
- rent-a-dread (slang)
- sanky (slang)
- sanky-panky (slang)
Holonyms
- brothel [⇒ thesaurus]
- demimonde
- escort agency
- escort service
- red light district
- stable of bitches (colloquial)
Various
- unorthodox entrepreneur
- —
- abandoned habits (archaic, British slang)
- balum rancum (idiomatic)
- calling card
- call (informal, slang)
- fuckie suckie (vulgar, slang)
- fuckie-suckie (vulgar, slang)
- half and half (slang)
- incall
- john school (US, colloquial)
- kerb crawling (Britain)
- Magdalene asylum (historical)
- Magdalene laundry (historical, chiefly Ireland)
- Murphy game
- oldest profession
- outcall
- sex tourism
- spinning house (historical)
- tart card (Britain, slang)
- whoremongery
- yellow ticket (historical)
- —
- on the game
- —
- abbess (UK, archaic)
- Covent Garden abbess (UK, archaic)
- lady abbess (UK, archaic)
- madam
- pimp [⇒ thesaurus]
- —
- apple-squire (obsolete)
- applesquire (obsolete)
- pander
- panderer
- ponce (UK)
- procurer
- —
- prostitute oneself [⇒ thesaurus]
- pimp out [⇒ thesaurus]
See also
- Thesaurus:promiscuous woman
- Thesaurus:promiscuous man
- Thesaurus:prostitute's client
- Thesaurus:pimp
- Thesaurus:brothel
- Thesaurus:vamp
Further reading
- “prostitute” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.
- “prostitute” in Moby Thesaurus II, Grady Ward, 1996.