whore +

(Old English hore > Middle English hore: prostitute)

A whore is etymologically a "lover". The word goes back to the Indo-European base qar-, which also produced Latin carus "dear" which is the source of English caress and charity; as well as, Old Irish caraim. It produced prehistoric Germanic khoron, which evolved into German hure, Dutch hoer, Swedish hora, Danish hore, and English whore; whose wh spelling first appeared in the 16th century.

Contact with East Indian culture has added yet another pair of derivatives from the Indo-European roots ka and kamo from which came the Sanskrit word kamah, "love, desire"; from which are derived the English borrowings Kama, "the Hindu god of love", and Kamasutra, "a Sanskrit treatise on the rules of love and marriage according to Hindu law".

Related "sex, sexism, sexual lust, sexual deviation" word units: aphrodi-; -cest-; eroto-; lagneuo-; -lagnia; masochism; porno-; Sadism-; satyr-; sex-; sodom-.