gigolo

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A man funded by women who find him attractive, particularly
  2. A hired escort or dancing partner.
  3. A male prostitute with female clients.
verb
  1. To work or act as a gigolo.
  2. To provide (someone) with the services of a gigolo.
  3. To offer (oneself or someone else) to someone as a gigolo.

Pronunciation

/ˈd͡ʒɪɡ.ə.loʊ/ /ˈd͡ʒɪɡ.ə.ləʊ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gigolo.wav

Word forms

gigolo gigolos gigoloes gigoloing gigoloed

Etymology

First attested in English in 1922. From French gigolo (“young lover kept by an older woman”), first attested in that sense in 1904 (attested since 1850 in the sense “Amant de cœur, compagnon d'une gigolette", and since 1894 in the sense “elegant young man whose means of livelihood are dubious”), a back-formation from gigolette (“promiscuous dancing girl, girl available for hire as a dancing partner”), attested since 1850, from giguer (“to dance”), from gigue (“fiddle; type of dance; jig”). More at jig.

Synonyms

male prostitute
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.