tawaif

English

Etymology

From Urdu طَوائِف (tavāif) / Hindi तवायफ़ (tavāyaf).

Noun

tawaif (plural tawaifs or tawaif)

1. (South Asia, historical) A professional courtesan serving the nobility, especially under the Mughal Empire; (derogatory), a whore.
   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 11:

     ‘The tawaif has graduated from mere singing to dancing.’

   • 2008, Susan Dewey, Hollow Bodies, page 147:

     Characterized by its soft eroticism, mujra was performed by courtesans called tawaif who were an integral part of life in the Mughal court.

   • 2008, Gayatri Chatterjee, in Sahni, Shankar, Apte (Eds.), Prostitution and Beyond, p. 290:

     And since the British period, the reputation of a common prostitute has dogged the heels of the tawaif.