also: そうよめ
Archaic term for a female street prostitute during the Edo period. Not used in modern Japanese; encountered only in historical contexts.
In the Edo period, there were streetwalkers called 惣嫁.
Historical kanji spelling for the Edo-period term; the character 惣 is an older variant of 総.
Alternate historical spelling using the more common 総.
Alternate reading; rare and not the primary reading for this term.
The term is composed of 惣 (an older variant of 総, meaning 'general' or 'overall') and 嫁 ('bride' or 'wife'), but the exact derivation is uncertain. It may have referred to women who were not bound to a specific brothel and thus 'generally available' as wives in a metaphorical sense.