bordelbordel means A brothel.EtymologyFrom Middle English bordel, from Old French bordel (“brothel”). Doublet of bordello. By surface analysis, Latin borda + -el (“diminutive”).nounA brothel.“Appropriately enough she had given him a rendezvous (for the marriage) at the old Sphinx, opposite the Gare Montparnasse, where the respectable exterior – a family café, where families up from the country came to eat an ice and wat for their train – masked a charming bordel with a high gallery and several spotless cubicles.”