Vocabulary Builder: "Strumpet"

In 1327 strumpet entered English meaning an unchaste woman, a prostitute. The word has been the source of several other words: to strump it meant to play the strumpet; strumpery referred to prostitution; a strumpeteer was a whoremonger (a male who fornicates with whores); strumpetocracy was a jocular term for the notion of rule or government by strumpets. The slang verb to strum, meaning to have sexual intercourse with a woman, was probably influenced both by strumpet and by strum in the sense of idly playing a string instrument. The expression to play a rough tune also meant to copulate with a woman.

-- fromWomanwords by Jane Mills