Oiran

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɔɪrÉ™n/

Origin

From Japanese 花魁, literally ‘flower-leader’.

Full definition of oiran

Noun

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)

Anagrams

• noria, on air, on-air, raion