leper
pronunciation
How to pronounce leper in British English:
UK [ˈlepə(r)]
How to pronounce leper in American English:
US ['lepər]
-
- Noun:
- a person afflicted with leprosy
- a pariah who is avoided by others
Word Origin
- leper
- leper: [13] Etymologically, a person suffering from leprosy has ‘scaly’ skin. The Greek word for ‘scale’ was lépos or lepís. From them was derived the adjective leprós ‘scaly’, whose feminine form léprā was used as a noun meaning ‘leprosy’. This passed via Latin lepra and Old French lepre into English as leper, where it still denoted ‘leprosy’. In the 14th century it came to be used for a ‘person suffering from leprosy’.
- leper (n.)
- "one afflicted with leprosy," late 14c., from Late Latin lepra, from Greek lepra "leprosy," from fem. of lepros (adj.) "scaly," from leops "a scale," related to lepein "to peel," from lopos "a peel," from PIE root *lep- "to peel, scale" (see leaf (n.)). Originally the word for the disease itself (mid-13c.); because of the -er ending it came to mean "person with leprosy," so leprosy was coined 16c. from adjective leprous.
Example
- 1. Now at the gate of the city there was seated one who was a leper .
- 2. The leper in our gospel had a different attitude .
- 3. But the leper entreated him , and prayed of him , till the star-child had pity , and gave him the piece of white gold .
- 4. The building was said to be haunted by the ghost of a leper woman .
- 5. The building was supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a leper woman .