odalisque

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: an enslaved female attendant in an Ottoman palace or harem; in Western writing, often inaccurately treated as a concubine

   The historical account described the odalisque as a servant within the palace household.

2. 2
   noun

   art history: a representation of a reclining, often nude woman in an exoticized or Orientalist setting

   The museum displayed an odalisque painted against richly patterned fabrics.

3. 3
   noun

   dated and objectifying: a sexually attractive or languidly reclining woman

   The novelist compared the reclining model to an odalisque.

Borrowed from French odalisque, from Ottoman Turkish odalik, 'chambermaid or female attendant,' from oda, 'room or chamber.' European Orientalist art and literature shifted the term toward an eroticized image of a reclining harem woman, often obscuring the original domestic rank.

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