leper

English

Etymology

From Middle English lepre, leprosy, from Old French [Term?], from Latin leprae, lepra, from Ancient Greek λέπρα (lépra).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛpə(ɹ)

Noun

leper (plural lepers)

1. A person who has leprosy, a person suffering from Hansen's disease.
2. (figurative) Synonym of outcast: A person who is shunned, a pariah.

Derived terms

• leper colony
• moral leper

Translations

person who has leprosy

• Bikol Central: kagitsion
• Bulgarian: прокажен (bg) (prokažen)
• Catalan: leprós (ca) m, leprosa (ca) f
• Cebuano: lansarohon
• Danish: spedalsk
• Dutch: melaatse (nl) m or f, leproos (nl) m
• Esperanto: leprulo
• Finnish: spitaalinen (fi)
• French: léprosé m, lépreux (fr)
• Galician: leproso (gl) m, gafo (gl) m, malato m
• Georgian: კეთროვანი (ḳetrovani)
• German: (especially historical, biblical) Aussätziger (de) m; (medicine now usually) Leprakranker (de) m
• Greek: λεπρός (el) m (leprós)

  Ancient Greek: λεπρός m (leprós)

• Greenlandic: pupissoq
• Hebrew: מְצֹרָע (he) m (m"tzorah)
• Hungarian: leprás (hu)
• Italian: lebbroso (it) m, lebbrosa (it) f
• Japanese: 癩病患者 (らいびょうかんじゃ, raibyōkanja)
• Korean: 한센병 환자 (hansenbyeong hwanja), 나환자 (nahwanja), 문둥이 (mundung'i) (offensive)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: گول (ckb) (gul)

• Latin: leprōsus m
• Luxembourgish: Aussätzeger m
• Persian: جذامی (fa)
• Polish: trędowaty (pl) m
• Portuguese: leproso (pt) m, leprosa f
• Romanian: lepros (ro) m, leproasă (ro) f
• Russian: прокажённый (ru) (prokažónnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: gubavac (sh) m, gubavica (sh) f
• Spanish: leproso (es) m, leprosa (es) f
• Swedish: spetälsk (sv) c
• Tagalog: ketongin
• Turkish: cüzzamlı (tr)
• Ukrainian: прока́жений m (prokáženyj)
• Volapük: (♂♀) lepradan, (♂) hilepradan, (♀) jilepradan

Verb

leper (third-person singular simple present lepers, present participle lepering, simple past and past participle lepered)

1. (now rare) To afflict with leprosy.
2. (figurative, now rare) Synonym of infect.
3. (figurative, now rare) Synonym of disfigure.
4. (figurative, now rare) Synonym of taint.
5. (figurative, now rare) Synonym of ostracize.

References

• “leper, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “leper”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “leper”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Epler, Lepre, repel