LEPER
What does "LEPER" mean?
A person affected by leprosy; figuratively, someone shunned or avoided by others.
Meanings
- A person who has leprosy (Hansen's disease). Now often considered offensive; 'person with leprosy' is preferred. Medieval lepers were required to carry a clapper to warn others of their approach. archaic
- A person who is rejected or avoided by society. After the scandal he became a social leper, dropped by every former friend. figurative
Did you know?
- Modern medicine renamed the disease 'Hansen's disease' after Norwegian physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, who identified its bacterial cause in 1873, partly to shed the stigma carried by the word 'leper'.
Word origin
From Late Latin 'lepra' and Greek 'lepra', 'scaly disease', from 'lepis', meaning scale; the English '-er' was added as if it were an agent noun.
Remember it
LEPER hides 'PER' - in old times a leper was kept 'apart per' rule, sent away from others.
A little poem
A bell on the road said: keep your distance.
The illness was real; the exile was ours.
We feared the wrong thing, and called it caution.
tercet
What it teaches
Most exile is not earned by the exiled; it is invented by the comfortable.
Quick facts
What does LEPER mean?
A person affected by leprosy; figuratively, someone shunned or avoided by others.
Is LEPER a valid word?
Yes — LEPER is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is LEPER?
LEPER has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does LEPER come from?
From Late Latin 'lepra' and Greek 'lepra', 'scaly disease', from 'lepis', meaning scale; the English '-er' was added as if it were an agent noun.
What can LEPER teach us?
Most exile is not earned by the exiled; it is invented by the comfortable.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.