Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Origin: leper 'leprosy' (13-16 centuries), from Old French, from Late Latin lepra, from Greek, from lepein 'to remove skin'

leper

 noun
     
Related topics: Illness and Disability
lep‧er [countable]
1MI someone who has leprosy
2 someone that people avoid because they have done something that people disapprove of:
They treated me as if I was a leper.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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