World's Oldest Profession - Wiktionary

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• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Alternative forms
  • 1.2 Etymology
  • 1.3 Pronunciation
  • 1.4 Noun
    • 1.4.1 Translations
  • 1.5 References

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English

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Alternative forms

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• oldest profession in the world, oldest profession

Etymology

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First appears c. 1888,[1] coined by Rudyard Kipling as most ancient profession in the world.[2] Alternative forms appeared in the early 1900s, present form popular by the 1930s.[2] Similar terms with various senses (not necessarily prostitution) exist in other languages.

Pronunciation

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• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

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the world's oldest profession (plural not attested)

1. (euphemistic) Prostitution.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “On the City Wall”, in In Black and White:Lalun is a member of the most ancient profession in the world.
   • 1929, Agatha Christie, The Seven Dials Mystery:The company was extremely mixed. There were portly foreigners, opulent Jewesses, a sprinkling of the really smart, and several ladies belonging to the oldest profession in the world.

Translations

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• Some local terms have slight variants while others are strict translations with varying degrees of usage.

euphemism for prostitution

Arabic: (please verify) أَقْدَم مِهْنَة f (ʔaqdam mihna) Armenian: հնագույն մասնագիտություն (hnaguyn masnagitutʻyun) Azerbaijani: dünyanın ən qədim peşəsi Chinese: Mandarin: (literal translation) 世界上最古老的職業 / 世界上最古老的职业 (shìjiè shàng zuì gǔlǎo de zhíyè) Czech: nejstarší řemeslo n Danish: verdens ældste erhverv Dutch: het oudste beroep ter wereld n Estonian: maailma vanim amet Finnish: maailman vanhin ammatti French: le plus vieux métier du monde m Galician: o oficio máis vello do mundo Georgian: უძველესი პროფესია (uʒvelesi ṗropesia) German: das älteste Gewerbe der Welt (de) n Greek: το αρχαιότερο επάγγελμα n (archaiótero epángelma) Hebrew: המקצוע העתיק ביותר בעולם m (hamiktsóa haatík b'yotér ba'olám) Icelandic: elsta atvinnugreinin í heimi Italian: la professione più antica del mondo f Japanese: 世界最古の職業 (sekai saiko no shokugyō) Korean: 세계에서 가장 오래된 직업 (segyeeseo gajang oraedoen jigeop) Latvian: pasaules senākā profesija Lithuanian: seniausia pasaulio profesija f Luxembourgish: eelste Beruff vun der Welt Norwegian: Bokmål: verdens eldste yrke n Polish: najstarszy zawód świata (pl) m Portuguese: a mais velha profissão do mundo f Romanian: cea mai veche profesie din lume f Russian: древне́йшая профе́ссия (ru) f (drevnéjšaja proféssija), древне́йшее ремесло́ f (drevnéjšeje remesló) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: најстарија професија на свету f Latin: najstarija profesija na svetu f Slovak: najstaršie remeslo n Slovene: najstarejši poklic m, najstarejši poklic na svetu m Spanish: la profesión más antigua del mundo f Swedish: världens äldsta yrke n Thai: (literal translation) อาชีพที่เก่าแก่ที่สุดในโลก Turkish: dünyanın en eski işi, dünyanın en eski mesleği Ukrainian: найда́вніша профе́сія f (najdávniša profésija) Vietnamese: gái làng chơi

References

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1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “world's oldest profession”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Is Prostitution Really the World's Oldest Profession? It is pretty old., by Forrest Wickman, Slate, March 6, 2012

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