交际花是一种以提供陪伴及娱乐为主的行业，是以奉客、表演为主。交际花可分为两类，一类是具有较高的艺术素养，「卖艺」不「卖身」或不轻易「卖身」的高级娼妓，又称艺妓。另一类则是以卖身为主，但档次和收费较高，专接待上层社会客人的妓女，也用作指一般女性性工作者的委婉语。现代人是贬词褒用，用来形容有手段且妩媚，也可以说是德才兼营的女子。

虽然艺妓具备文化及艺术素养，但在世界上多数传统社会被视为低等阶层。现代社会中的传统艺妓，如日本的艺妓、朝鲜半岛的妓生等已经式微，被视为一种传统文化艺术，社会地位较古代大大提高，被视为传统技艺、文化的继承者。

A courtesan was originally a courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.

In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information untrusted to servants to visiting dignitaries. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an extremely important role in upper-class society. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men and women would often seek gratification and companionship from people living at court. In fact, the verb to court originally meant "to be or reside at court", and later came to mean "to behave as a courtier" and then courtship, or "to pay amorous attention to somebody". The most intimate companion of a ruler was called the favourite.