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leprous.

Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈlɛpɹəs/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.

  2. Infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy.

  3. Similar to leprosy or its symptoms.

  4. Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy.

  5. Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned.

    archaic · figuratively
  6. Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure.

    historical
  7. Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”).

    archaic
  8. Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English leprous (“having leprosy or a skin disease with symptoms like leprosy; (alchemy) of metals or minerals: impure; a leper”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman leprous, lepros [and other forms], Middle French lepros, lepreux, and Old French leprous, lepros (“having leprosy; a leper”) (modern French lépreux), and from their etymon Late Latin leprosus (“having leprosy; (alchemy) of metals: impure; a leper”), from Latin lepra (“leprosy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Lepra is derived from Ancient Greek λέπρᾱ (léprā, “leprosy”), from λεπῐ́ς (lepĭ́s, “flake, scale; epithelial debris”) (perhaps from λέπω (lépō, “to peel, strip off a husk or rind”) + -ῐς (-ĭs, suffix forming feminine nouns)) + -ᾱ (-ā, suffix forming action nouns from verbs).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.