noun
leper
LEP-ur/ˈlepər/
An outdated and often offensive name for a person with Hansen's disease.
The medical guide warns against calling someone with Hansen's disease a leper.
Etymology
Lepra named the disease; the English word later came to mean a person with it. In the selected figurative sense, it labels someone treated as an outcast.
More examples
- The old hospital record identifies the patient as a leper.
- The exhibit describes how lepers were once forced into isolation.
- She replaces “leper” with “person with Hansen's disease” in her report.
Forms
leper · lepers
leprosy noun — An infectious disease also called Hansen's disease.