pariah
/pəˈɹaɪə/ noun
Forms pariahs
- noun Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
- noun (figurative) A similarly despised group of people or species of animal.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Tamil பறையர் (paṟaiyar), from பறையன் (paṟaiyaṉ, “drummer”), from பறை (paṟai, “drum”) or from Malayalam പറയർ (paṟayaṟ), from പറയൻ (paṟayaṉ, “drummer”), from പറ (paṟa, “drum”). Parai in Tamil or Para in Malayalam refers to a type of large drum designed to announce the king’s notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste-based society, they were in the lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah.
Alternatively, derived from Sanskrit पर (para, “distant; outsider”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun One of an aboriginal people of Southern India, regarded by the four castes of the Hindoos as of very low grade. They are usually the serfs of the Sudra agriculturalists. See Caste. Balfour (Cyc. of India).
- noun An outcast; one despised by society. Pariah dog (Zoöl.), a mongrel race of half-wild dogs which act as scavengers in Oriental cities.
Etymology [From Tamil paraiyan, pl. paraiyar, one of the low caste, fr. parai a large drum, because they beat the drums at certain festivals.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pariah”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details