Brothel

Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution and may be confined to special red-light districts in large cities. Those businesses have prostitutes who pay a fee to stay on the premises. When a patron arrives, he has the opportunity to choose a partner and the deal (i.e. which acts are going to be performed and how much the patron is going to be charged) is between the prostitute and his/her client. In some places, licensed brothels are legal.

There is a long list of synonyms; some are proper words but most are either slang or foreign language words.

Other names for a brothel include:
*bordello
*cathouse
*ranch
*whorehouse

Historical and rarer slang terms for brothels include:
*bawdy house (also used as a legal term)
*bordel (from the French)
*bovril
*case (compare Spanish casa or Italian casa chiusa)
*cathouse
*chicken house - Cantonese literal translation
*common-house
*creep
*crib
*demimonde (from the French for underworld)
*dress-house
*drum
*flash-house
*flesh-shambles
*gaff
*harlot-house
*hook shop
*hot house
*house of ill/evil repute/fame
*house of accommodation
*house of assignation
*house of joy
*house of horizontal refreshment
*joy-house
*juke
*kip
*knocking-shop
*leaping house
*love shack
*lupanar (from Latin)
*maison close (French closed house)
*maison de passe (house of trick)
*maison de tolérance (House of Tolerance)
*massage parlour
*meat house
*moll-shop
*notch-house
*nunnery
*panel-house
*parlour-house
*peg house
*picked hatch
*public house
*rap club
*rib-joint
*slaughter-house
*smuggling-ken
*sporting-house
*stew
*trugging house/place
*vaulting house
*warren
*whore-shop/sty (* used by Shakespeare)

Many of these are or originated as euphemisms, and their variety is affected in part by the euphemism treadmill.

See also

*Prostitution