lupanar

English

Etymology

From Latin lupānar, from lupa (“prostitute”, literally “she-wolf”), from lupus (“wolf”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luːˈpeɪnɑː/

Noun

lupanar (plural lupanars)

1. (formal, archaic) A brothel.
   • 1920, Aldous Huxley, “From the Pillar”, in Leda‎^[1], New York: George H. Doran:

     The steam of fetid vices / From a thousand lupanars, / Like smoke of sacrifices, /  Reeked up to the heedless stars.

   • 1942, Elliot Paul, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Sickle Moon, published 2001, page 33:

     A prostitute was not permitted to stand under a street lamp, and sisters were not allowed to work in the same lupanar.

Related terms

• lupanarian

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lupānar.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [lu.pəˈna]

• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [lu.paˈnaɾ]

Noun

lupanar m (plural lupanars)

1. (literary) brothel

   Synonyms: bordell, prostíbul

Further reading

• “lupanar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin lupānar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ly.pa.naʁ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

lupanar m (plural lupanars)

1. (dated or literary) brothel
   • 1895, R. von Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis:

     Devenu étudiant à l'Université, je visitai un lupanar et je réussis le coït sans effort.

     Having become a student at university, I visited a brothel and easily managed to have intercourse.

   • 2000, Frédéric Beigbeder, 99 francs, Gallimard, →ISBN, page 73:

     Ce soir tu as décidé de retourner au Bar Biturique, ton lupanar favori. Les maisons closes sont supposées être interdites en France ; pourtant, rien qu'à Paris, on en dénombre une bonne cinquantaine.

     Tonight you've decided to go back to the Bar Biturique, your favourite house of ill repute. Brothels are supposed to be banned in France, but in Paris alone there are a good fifty of them.

Further reading

• “lupanar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Latin

Etymology

Apocope of earlier *lupānāre, a neuter relative adjective equivalent to lupa (“a she-wolf” → “prostitute”) +‎ -ānus +‎ -āris (both relative adjective suffixes). See -ar.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɫʊˈpaː.naːr], [ɫʊˈpaː.nar]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [luˈpaː.nar]
• Note: the last vowel shortened around the time of Terence.

Noun

lupānar n (genitive lupānāris); third declension

1. brothel, whore-house

   Synonym: (Late Latin) prōstibulum

   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides 3.3.50:

     Haud consimili ingenio atque ille est qui in lupanari accubat.

     He's not at all of the same nature as he who relaxes in the brothel.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, pure i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	lupānar	lupānāria
genitive	lupānāris	lupānārium
dative	lupānārī	lupānāribus
accusative	lupānar	lupānāria
ablative	lupānārī	lupānāribus
vocative	lupānar	lupānāria

Descendants

• → Catalan: lupanar
• → English: lupanar
• → French: lupanar
• → Italian: lupanare
• → Polish: lupanar
• → Portuguese: lupanar
• → Romanian: lupanar
• → Spanish: lupanar

References

• “lŭpānar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lupanar”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lupanar”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lupanar”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lupanar”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lupānar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luˈpa.nar/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -anar
• Syllabification: lu‧pa‧nar

Noun

lupanar m inan

1. (archaic) brothel

   Synonyms: agencja towarzyska, burdel, dom publiczny, zamtuz

Declension

Declension of lupanar

	singular	plural
nominative	lupanar	lupanary
genitive	lupanaru	lupanarów
dative	lupanarowi	lupanarom
accusative	lupanar	lupanary
instrumental	lupanarem	lupanarami
locative	lupanarze	lupanarach
vocative	lupanarze	lupanary

Further reading

• lupanar in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lupanar in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lupānārem.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lu.paˈnaʁ/ [lu.paˈnah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lu.paˈnaʁ/ [lu.paˈnah]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /lu.paˈnaʁ/ [lu.paˈnaχ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lu.pɐˈnaʁ/

Noun

lupanar m (plural lupanares)

1. brothel (house of prostitution)

   Synonyms: bordel, prostíbulo

Further reading

• “lupanar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “lupanar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French lupanar, from Latin lupanar.

Noun

lupanar n (plural lupanare)

1. brothel

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lupanar	lupanarul		lupanare	lupanarele
genitive-dative	lupanar	lupanarului		lupanare	lupanarelor
vocative	lupanarule			lupanarelor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin lupānar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lupaˈnaɾ/ [lu.paˈnaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: lu‧pa‧nar

Noun

lupanar m (plural lupanares)

1. brothel

   Synonyms: burdel, casa de citas, mancebía, prostíbulo, puticlub

Further reading

• “lupanar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025