also: ぎふ
pimp; brothel tout
Refers to a person who solicits customers for a brothel or manages prostitutes. The reading ぎふ is standard; ぎゅう is an ateji reading associated with the rare kanji form 牛.
In the old days, brothel touts stood in front of the red-light district.
Standard kanji spelling for this word.
Ateji spelling; rarely used and potentially confusing.
The kanji 妓 (courtesan) and 夫 (man) combine to mean a man associated with courtesans, i.e., a pimp. The ateji spelling 牛 (cow) is a phonetic borrowing.