bordel

English

Etymology

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

Noun

bordel (plural bordels)

1. (now rare) A brothel.
   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 470:

     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.

Anagrams

• Dobler, belord, blored, bolder

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Medieval Latin bordellum

Old French bordel

Middle French bordel

French bordelbor.

Czech bordel

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbordɛl]

• Audio:

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• Audio:

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Noun

bordel m inan

1. (vulgar) brothel, whorehouse

   Synonym: nevěstinec

2. (slang) fuck-up (big mistake)
3. (vulgar) mess (disagreeable mixture or confusion of things)

   Synonym: nepořádek

Declension

Declension of bordel (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	bordel	bordely
genitive	bordelu	bordelů
dative	bordelu	bordelům
accusative	bordel	bordely
vocative	bordele	bordely
locative	bordelu	bordelech
instrumental	bordelem	bordely

Derived terms

• bordel na kolečkách

Further reading

• “bordel”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “bordel”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “bordel”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Etymology

From French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔrdɛl/, [b̥ɒˈd̥ɛlˀ]

Noun

bordel n (singular definite bordellet, plural indefinite bordeller)

1. bordello, brothel, whorehouse

Declension

Declension of bordel

neuter gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bordel	bordellet	bordeller	bordellerne
genitive	bordels	bordellets	bordellers	bordellernes

Synonyms

• horehus
• massageklinik

References

• “bordel” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Medieval Latin bordellum

Old French bordel

Middle French bordel

French bordel

Inherited from Middle French bordel, from Old French bordel, from Medieval Latin bordellum (“brothel, small hut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔʁ.dɛl/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Noun

bordel m (plural bordels)

1. (informal) brothel

   Synonym: maison close

   • 1958, Georges Brassens, “Le Pornographe”:

     S'il vous plaît de chanter les fleurs / Qu'elles poussent au moins rue Blondel / Dans un bordel

     If you like to sing about flowers / At least let them be ones that grow on Rue Blondel / In a brothel

     [Fleur, like English flower, can mean “vulva”.]

2. (colloquial) bloody mess (UK), goddamn mess (US)

   Synonym: bazar

   C'est quoi ce bordel ? ― What the hell's this mess?

Derived terms

• bordélique

Interjection

bordel

1. (vulgar, slang) bloody hell! (UK), Christ almighty!

Derived terms

• bordel de merde

Descendants

• → Albanian: bordel
• → Armenian: բորդել (bordel)
• → Czech: bordel
• → Bulgarian: борде́й (bordéj)
• → Danish: bordel
• → Georgian: ბორდელი (bordeli)
• → German: Bordell
• → Estonian: bordell
• → Finnish: bordelli
• → German Low German: Bordell
• → Haitian Creole: bordel
• → Hungarian: bordély
• → Indonesian: bordil
• → Kazakh: борде́ль (bordélʹ)
• → Kyrgyz: борде́ль (bordél)
• → Latvian: bordelis
• → Lithuanian: bordelis
• → Norwegian: bordell
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: bordell
• → Portuguese: bordel
• → Romanian: bordel
• → Romansh: burdel
• → Russian: борде́ль (bordélʹ)
• → Serbo-Croatian: bordel
• → Slovak: bordel
• → Swedish: bordell
• → Turkmen: bordel
• → Ukrainian: борде́ль (bordélʹ)
• → Uzbek: bordel

Further reading

• “bordel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Medieval Latin bordellum

Old French bordel

Middle French bordel

French bordelbor.

Portuguese bordel

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /boʁˈdɛw/ [boɦˈdɛʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /boʁˈdɛw/ [boɦˈdɛʊ̯]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /boɾˈdɛw/ [boɾˈdɛʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /boʁˈdɛw/ [boʁˈdɛʊ̯]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /boɻˈdɛw/ [boɻˈdɛʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /buɾˈdɛl/ [buɾˈðɛɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /buɾˈdɛl/ [buɾˈðɛɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /buɾˈdɛ.li/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɛl, (Brazil) -ɛw
• Hyphenation: bor‧del

Noun

bordel m (plural bordéis)

1. brothel

Further reading

• “bordel”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bordel.

Noun

bordel n (plural bordeluri)

1. bordello, brothel

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	bordel	bordelul	bordeluri	bordelurile
genitive-dative	bordel	bordelului	bordeluri	bordelurilor
vocative	bordelule		bordelurilor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bǒrdel/, /bordêl/

Noun

bòrdel or bordȅl m inan (Cyrillic spelling бо̀рдел or борде̏л)

1. brothel

Declension

Declension of bordel

	singular	plural
nominative	bòrdel	bordeli
genitive	bordèla	bordela
dative	bordelu	bordelima
accusative	bordel	bordele
vocative	bordele	bordeli
locative	bordelu	bordelima
instrumental	bordelom	bordelima

Further reading

• “bordel”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Slovak

Etymology

Etymology tree

Medieval Latin bordellum

Old French bordel

Middle French bordel

French bordelbor.

Slovak bordel

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔrdel/, [ˈbɔrdel]
• Rhymes: -ɔrdel
• Hyphenation: bor‧del

Noun

bordel m inan

1. brothel
2. mess, disorder

Declension

Declension of bordel
(pattern dub)

	singular	plural
nominative	bordel	bordely
genitive	bordelu	bordelov
dative	bordelu	bordelom
accusative	bordel	bordely
locative	bordele	bordeloch
instrumental	bordelom	bordelmi

Further reading

• “bordel”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Medieval Latin bordellum

Old French bordel

Middle French bordel

French bordelbor.

German Bordellbor.

Upper Sorbian bordel

Borrowed from German Bordell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔʀˈdɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Syllabification: bor‧del

Noun

bordel m inan (relational adjective bordelowy)

1. brothel

   Synonym: (obsolete) kurwarnja

Declension

Declension of bordel (masculine soft stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	bordel	bordelej	bordele
genitive	bordela	bordelow	bordelow
dative	bordelej	bordelomaj	bordelam
accusative	bordel	bordelej	bordele
instrumental	bordelom	bordelomaj	bordelemi
locative	bordelu	bordelomaj	bordelach
vocative	bordelo	bordelej	bordele

Further reading

• “bordel” in Soblex