Oiran

From Fresh Dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun

English

Etymology

From Japanese 花魁, literally ‘flower-leader’.

Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈɔɪrən/

Noun

Singular oiran

Plural oiran

1. a high-status courtesan

   • 2002: The oiran of Mitarai was not like the geisha. Like the great eighteenth-century courtesans of Europe, she knew who and what she was and turned wanton provocation into an art. — Donald Richie, The Inland Sea (Stone Bridge Press 2002, p. 192)