bathhouse
/ˈbæθˌhaʊs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.66 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A business with bath-like facilities, which chiefly serves as a place for sexual encounters, especially among men.
Example Sentences
- "[…] a plethora of taverns, victuals, brew houses, hostelries, bathhouses, brothels, bearbaiting and bullbaiting arenas jostled for space with shops of stockfishmongers, garlicmongers, and bakemongers."
- "The landslide hit Xiangning county in Shanxi province early Friday evening, provincial authorities said. Two residential buildings, home to a total of 14 households, and a public bathhouse collapsed under the weight of the falling earth."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English bathhous, bathous, from Old English bæþhūs (“bathhouse”), equivalent to bath + house. Cognate with Dutch badhuis (“bathhouse”), German Badehaus (“bathhouse”), German Low German Baadhuus, Boodhuus (“bathhouse”), Danish badehus (“bathhouse”), Norwegian Bokmål badehus (“bathhouse”), Norwegian Nynorsk badehus (“bathhouse”), Swedish badhus (“bathhouse”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bathhous, bæþhūs
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbæθˌhaʊs/