leper

American  

[lep-er] / ˈlɛp ər /

noun

• lepers
  plural

1. a person who has leprosy.

2. a person who has been rejected or ostracized for unacceptable behavior, opinions, character, or the like; anathema; outcast.

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leper British  

/ ˈlɛpə /

noun

1. a person who has leprosy

2. derogatory a person who is ignored or despised

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Usage

What does leper mean? Leper is a word for a person who has leprosy, an infectious skin disease. Leprosy causes bumps and wounds on and under the skin that gradually spread and can cause muscle weakness, nerve damage, and paralysis. If not treated effectively, it can result in the loss of body parts and eventually death. Leprosy is also called Hansen’s disease, which is the name preferred by many medical professionals. It’s caused by a kind of bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. It can be cured with a treatment of antibiotics and other drugs. Cases of leprosy have been documented since ancient times. Due to its severe effects and contagiousness, many people who have had the disease throughout history have been stigmatized and treated as outcasts. Due to this stigma, the word leper came to be used in a more figurative way to mean an outcast or someone who is excluded, especially for behavior or opinions considered unacceptable, as in Ever since I expressed my opinion, I’ve been treated like a leper around here. However, both the figurative and literal senses of the word can be considered insensitive due to the fact that they can dehumanize those who have the disease. It is typically recommended to use a phrase like “a person with Hansen’s disease” instead of leper.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lepers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of leper

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English lepre “leprosy,” from Latin lepra, from Greek lépra, noun use of feminine of leprós “scaly,” akin to lépos “scale,” lépein “to peel”

Explanation

The word leper was historically used to refer to someone who suffered from leprosy, a bacterial illness that affects the nerves, skin, and respiratory tract. Because leprosy was thought to be highly contagious, the word leper also came to be used more generally to mean "an outcast" or "a person to be avoided." Although it was originally used a medical term — the Greek root is lepros, "scaly" — today the word leper is generally considered to be offensive. In the Middle Ages, when there was no known treatment for leprosy, people with the disease were often quarantined in areas known as "leper colonies." These days, leper is more commonly used in a general way to refer to someone who is shunned by others: "Her friends treated her like a leper because they mistakenly thought she had been spreading rumors about them."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

leper lepers

"If you had enough money and could buy your way into a leper hospital, it's a bit like getting a place in a private care home or something like that."

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

We learn that in Romania, for example, the leper colony of Tichilești was one of the only places in the country to lack state informants under the totalitarian Ceaușescu dictatorship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

To Spanish actor and nobleman José Luis de Vilallonga, Chez Régine was “a leper colony for the overprivileged.”

From Washington Post ● May 2, 2022

There is a moment in Warner’s novel when the bishop’s clerk journeys to a leper house and participates in an impromptu recital of Ars Nova, a new style of polyphonic music.

From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2021

Apparently, there is no way he is going to search a leper.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

She also employs and supports a community of lepers and former sex workers who society would have otherwise cast aside.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

"I simply hope that people who, in my opinion, have been treated rather like lepers, are now on a journey which treats them as people with a health condition."

From BBC ● May 16, 2022

We’re dodging each other like lepers on a sunny spring day, prospecting for toilet paper in the grocery aisles, washing our hands until they become wounds unto themselves.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2020

Her work from Kolkata, India, helping orphans, lepers and the poor had spread to other countries.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 24, 2019

A minute later Wilcox called, “A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three, four" and everyone 'cept us lepers began singing to the tune of “John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave":

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell