courtesan

noun

cour·​te·​san ˈkȯr-tə-zən 

-ˌzan,

 also  ˈkər-,

-ˌzän;

 especially British  ˌkȯ-tə-ˈzan

plural courtesans

: a female sex worker with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele

Synonyms

• bawd
• call girl
• cocotte
• drab
• hooker
• hustler
• prostitute
• sex worker
• streetwalker
• tart
• whore

Examples of courtesan in a Sentence

the protagonist of the novel is a composite of several real-life courtesans who plied their trade among the decadent aristocracy

Recent Examples on the Web

Queen of the Night is a big juicy epic about the many travails of an opera singer and courtesan in 18th-century France, her many enemies, and her many lovers. —Constance Grady, Vox, 3 Dec. 2024

The title character was a French commoner turned courtesan (a polite term for high-class prostitute) who lived from 1743 to 1793. —Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2024

Since 1766, its intimate salons have served as an elegant house of pleasure, where courtesans entertained their wealthy aristocratic patrons. —Tiziana Cardini, Vogue, 28 Sep. 2024

The courtesans were trained in music, etiquette and dance and the women of the area were a social symbol for the elite, with their presence at ceremonies a statement of class and wealth akin to Japan's geishas. —Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle French courtisane, from northern Italian dialect form of Italian cortigiana woman courtier, feminine of cortigiano courtier, from corte court, from Latin cohort-, cohors — see court entry 1

First Known Use

1542, in the meaning defined above