harlot

/ˈhɑrlət/

/ˈhɑlət/

Other forms: harlots

Harlot is an old-fashioned word for a prostitute — a woman who has sex for money.

These days, calling a woman a harlot is usually done humorously. This word is too old-sounding and unusual to be very insulting. Still, you shouldn't call anyone a harlot, because it's a term — just like "whore," "strumpet," and "lady of the night" — for a woman who has sex for money. That's never been a compliment, even though today the world's oldest profession has a much nicer term: sex worker.

Definitions of harlot

1. noun

   a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
   synonyms: bawd, cocotte, cyprian, fancy woman, lady of pleasure, prostitute, sporting lady, tart, whore, woman of the street, working girl

   types:

   call girl

   a female prostitute who can be hired by telephone

   camp follower

   a prostitute who provides service to military personnel

   comfort woman, ianfu

   a woman forced into prostitution for Japanese servicemen during World War II

   demimondaine

   a woman whose sexual promiscuity places her outside respectable society

   floozie, floozy, hooker, hustler, slattern, street girl, streetwalker

   a prostitute who attracts customers by walking the streets

   white slave

   a woman sold into prostitution

   type of:

   adult female, woman

   an adult female person (as opposed to a man)