whoredom

From Middle English horedom, hordom, from Old Norse hórdómr, ultimately corresponding to whore +‎ -dom. Cognate with Swedish hordom (“whoredom”), Middle Dutch hoerdom (“whoredom”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔːdəm/

whoredom (usually uncountable, plural whoredoms)

1. The state of being a whore, prostitution; sexual indulgence, fornication. [from 12th c.]
   • 1611, Bible, Authorized (King James) Version, Genesis XXXVIII:

     And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     Mother […] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

   • 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin 2013, p. 14:

     the most enthusiastic punishers of whoredom were often the most evangelical Protestants, who sought the ever-further purification of society (‘Puritans’, as they came to be called in England).