prostitute

Etymology

The verb is borrowed from Latin prōstitūtus (“exposed publicly, offered for sale”), the past participle of prōstituō (“to offer for sale, to prostitute, to put to an unworthy use, to expose to public shame”).^[2][3][4][5] The noun comes from the feminine prōstitūta, used as a noun in Latin,^[2][6][7][8] and the adjective from the participle itself.^[2][5] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“before, in front, in public”) and statuō (“to set up, place, cause to stand”),^{[9][10][11][12]} the source of statute;^[10][8] the stem vowel a became i in the compound.^[8] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary take the Latin verb back to Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand”).^[3][9] The OED compares prostituta (17th century) and prostituta (14th century).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To offer someone, especially oneself, for sex, indiscriminately or for payment: 1530, in Palsgrave's French–English Lesclarcissement.^[2][4] Etymonline also dates the verb to the 1520s, and Dictionary.com gives 1520–30.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

Ayto traces the meaning of the Latin verb from "expose publicly" to "offer for sale" and then to "make available for sex for money",^[10] and Etymonline notes that the idea of sex for hire is not in the etymology, which suggests rather someone exposed to lust.^[3] In English the verb's sexual sense came first (1530); a neutral sense "to devote oneself wholly to" (about 1550 to 1677) did not last, while the pejorative "to debase oneself or one's talents for gain" is recorded from 1593 in Nashe.^[2] Etymonline finds this figurative sense implied from the 1570s.^[3] The adjective, "debased, corrupt" from 1563 and "licentious, promiscuous" from 1569, preceded the noun;^[2][3] Johnson (1755) still defined the adjective as "vicious for hire; sold to infamy or wickedness".^[14] The noun is first recorded in 1607, in Beaumont's Woman Hater,^[2][4] or in 1613 in Purchas's Pilgrimage according to Barnhart.^[6] At first it could mean any woman thought of as promiscuous, and Etymonline notes that early usage made no distinction between women who acted from choice, from need or under force.^[2][3] For a man it is recorded from 1761, especially of homosexual sex,^[2] and the phrase male prostitute from 1948.^[3] The figurative "person who acts dishonourably for gain" dates from 1680.^[2] For a while, apparently through confusion with prostrate, the verb and the adjective were also used for "lying down, prostrate" (1583 to 1793).^[2] Etymonline notes that descendants of the Latin word, such as Prostituierte, have become the usual European term.^[3]

Timeline

• 1530 – verb, to offer for sex, especially for payment.^[2][4]
• c. 1550 – verb, to devote oneself wholly (obsolete by 1677).^[2]
• 1563 – adjective, debased, corrupt.^[2][4]
• 1569 – adjective, licentious, promiscuous.^[2]
• 1583 – verb, to prostrate (obsolete by 1793).^[2]
• 1593 – verb, to debase oneself or one's talents for gain.^[2]
• 1607 – noun, a woman who has sex for payment.^[2][4]
• 1631 – verb, intransitive, to work as a prostitute.^[2]
• 1680 – noun, a person who acts dishonourably for gain.^[2]
• 1761 – noun, a man who has sex for payment.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who has sex with others for payment.^[15][4][2]
2. A person who puts his or her talent or work to unworthy use for money or advantage.^[15][2]

Verb

1. To offer oneself or another person for sex in return for money.^[15][4][2]
2. To put oneself or one's abilities to a corrupt or unworthy use for gain: She refused to prostitute her art for a sponsor.^[15][4][2]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Given over to corrupt purposes; licentious.^[4][2]

Word family

• prostitutor
• unprostituted

Related words

• prostitution
• statute
• constitute
• institute
• substitute
• destitute
• restitution
• prostrate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins