The story
- Old French · derived fromharlot
- Middle English · inherited fromharlot
- English todayharlot
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.