bordel

B3O1R1D2E1L1

noun

A brothel.

OriginMiddle English bordel ← Old French bordel →
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Meanings

nounbordel (plural bordels)

plural bordels

  1. archaicA brothel.
    1 more example

    Appropriately enough she had given him a rendezvous (for the marriage) at the old Sphinx, opposite the Gare Montparnasse, where the respectable exterior – a family café, where families up from the country came to eat an ice and wat for their train – masked a charming bordel with a high gallery and several spotless cubicles.

    1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 470

Origin

  1. Old Frenchbordel“brothel”
  2. Middle Englishbordel
  3. Englishbordel

From Middle English bordel, from Old French bordel (“brothel”). Doublet of bordello. By surface analysis, Latin borda + -el (“diminutive”).

More words from Middle English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

DoblerBoldrebelord
Cite this entry
APA

bordel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bordel

MLA

“bordel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bordel. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bordel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bordel.

Source: bordel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.