courtesan

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: a woman who had wealthy or powerful lovers or clients, often in exchange for financial support and with access to elite society

   The Venetian courtesan was celebrated for her poetry as well as her influential patrons.

Borrowed in the sixteenth century from French courtisane, from Italian cortigiana ("woman of the court"), the feminine of cortigiano ("courtier"). Corte ("court") ultimately comes from Latin cohors ("enclosure, retinue"). The social and sexual sense developed as a euphemistic use of "woman of the court."

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