English
whore
Whore comes from Middle English hore ‘a whore’, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros ‘loved’, and ultimately from *keh₂- ‘to wish’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂-‘to wish’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂ros‘loved’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōrǭ‘whore, adulteress’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hōre‘whore, prostitute’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hore‘a whore’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606whore
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂-‘to wish’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂ros‘loved’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōrǭ‘whore, adulteress’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hōre‘whore, prostitute’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hore‘a whore’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1606whore
Earliest quotation: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “The merciless Macdonald – worthy to be a rebel,…”
The story
The unetymological spelling with wh- superficially denotes a formerly standard pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ (such as in whole), but such a form is hardly found in either commentators on Early Modern English pronunciations or records of traditional dialects (which both explicitly mention its rarity or absence), therefore leaving the spelling somewhat inexplicable. However, this may be because such an excrescent /w/ was absorbed by a following /uː/ (as in words with etymological /w/ such as whom, two) after it became established in the spelling but before our earliest orthoepic records.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *keh₂- ‘to wish’
through Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros ‘loved’
through Middle English hore ‘a whore’
Today it means
noun Synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *keh₂- / whore