bordel

English

Etymology

From Middle English bordel, from Old French bordel (“brothel”). Doublet of bordello.

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

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbordɛl]

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, 1935–1957
• bordel in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• bordel in Internetová jazyková příručka

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔrdɛl/, [b̥ɒˈd̥ɛlˀ]

Noun

bordel n (singular definite bordellet, plural indefinite bordeller)

1. bordello, brothel, whorehouse

Inflection

Declension of bordel

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bordel	bordellet	bordeller	bordellerne
genitive	bordels	bordellets	bordellers	bordellernes

Synonyms

• horehus
• massageklinik

Further reading

• bordel on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔʁ.dɛl/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bordel m (plural bordels)

1. (informal) brothel

   Synonym: maison close

   • 1958, Georges Brassens (lyrics and music), “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 (especially US)

   Synonym: bazar

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

Interjection

bordel

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

Derived terms

• bordel de merde

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: bordel
• → Albanian: bordel
• → Armenian: բորդել (bordel)
• → Czech: bordel
• → Bulgarian: борде́й (bordéj)
• → Danish: bordel
• → Georgian: ბორდელი (bordeli)
• → German: Bordell
• → German Low German: Bordell
• → Hungarian: bordély
• → Indonesian: bordil
• → Kazakh: борде́ль (bordél)
• → Kyrgyz: борде́ль (bordél)
• → Latvian: bordelis
• → Lithuanian: bordelis
• → Norwegian: bordell
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: bordell
• → Portuguese: bordel
• → Romanian: bordel
• → Romansch: 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

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]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /boɻˈdɛw/ [boɻˈdɛʊ̯]

 

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

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

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

Noun

bordel m (plural bordéis)

1. brothel

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bordel.

Noun

bordel n (plural bordeluri)

1. bordello, brothel

Declension

Declension of bordel

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) bordel	bordelul	(niște) bordeluri	bordelurile
genitive/dative	(unui) bordel	bordelului	(unor) bordeluri	bordelurilor
vocative	bordelule		bordelurilor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bordel (“brothel”).

Noun

bòrdel m (Cyrillic spelling бо̀рдел)

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

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɔrɟel]

Noun

bordel m inan (genitive singular bordelu, nominative plural bordely, genitive plural bordelov)

1. brothel

Declension

Declension of bordel

	singular	plural
nominative	bordel	bordely
genitive	bordelu	bordelov
dative	bordelu	bordelom
accusative	bordel	bordely
locative	bordeli	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, 2024