prostitution

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin prōstitūtiō,^[2][3][4] partly through Middle French prostitution,^[5][6] a noun of action from Latin prōstitūtus, the past participle of prōstituō (“to expose publicly, offer for sale”),^[5][2][4] from prō- (“before”) and statuō (“to cause to stand, set up”),^[5][2] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand”).^[5] The Latin noun is first recorded in Tertullian, around 200, for the occupation of a prostitute and for licentiousness.^[2] The French word meant debauchery from the second half of the 13th century, in Anglo-Norman, and selling oneself for money only from 1611.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The practice of a woman selling sex for money: 1553, in Richard Eden's translation of Münster's Treatyse of the Newe India.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the Latin verb meant literally "to place in front", hence "to expose publicly", and that the idea of sex for hire is not in the etymology itself.^[5] The verb prostitute is recorded from the 1520s and the noun prostitute from the 1610s.^[5] The figurative sense of prostitution, the devotion of one's talents to an unworthy cause for gain, is recorded from 1609,^[2] by the 1640s in Etymonline.^[5] From 1661 it was also used of men and boys.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave first "the act of setting to sale" and then the life of a prostitute.^[7] Between 1567 and 1593 the word was occasionally used for "prostration", apparently by confusion with prostration.^[2]

Timeline

• 1553 – the practice of selling sex.^[2][3]
• 1567 – prostration (obsolete by 1593).^[2]
• 1605 – a prostitute, in Marston (rare).^[2]
• 1609 – figurative, debasement for gain.^[2]
• 1661 – of a man or boy.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The practice of engaging in sexual activity for payment.
2. The use of one's talents or principles for an unworthy purpose, especially for gain; debasement or corruption.

Word family

• antiprostitution

Related words

• prostitute
• statute
• institute
• constitution
• prostration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.