# whore

> English word · Noun · IPA /hɔː/ · frequency rank #8,877

## Definitions
1. Synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment.
2. A person who is sexually promiscuous; a slut.
3. A person who is unscrupulous, especially one who compromises their principles for gain.
4. A person who will violate behavioral standards to achieve something desired.
5. A contemptible person.

## Etymology
From Middle English hore, from Old English hōre, from Proto-Germanic *hōrǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros (“loved”), from *keh₂- (“to wish; desire”). Cognate with Dutch hoer, German Hure, Old Norse hóra as well as Sanskrit चारु (cā́ru, “dear”), Latin cārus (“dear, expensive”), and Irish cara (“friend”).
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 a 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.

## Easily confused with
- **woe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-woe)
- **wor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wor)
- **work** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-work)
- **word** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-word)
- **wire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wire)
- **wore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wore)
- **worn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-worn)
- **woke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-woke)
- **worm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-worm)
- **whos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-whos)
- **wort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wort)
- **wove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wove)
- **whose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-whose)
- **wrote** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-wrote)
- **worse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-worse)
- **Whyte** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-whyte)
- **whorl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-whorl)
- **whores** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whore-vs-whores)
- **who** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/who-vs-whore)
- **were** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/were-vs-whore)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hwore`, `whhore`, `whoer`, `whorre`, `whroe`, `wohre`, `wwhore`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/whore