leprosy
/ˈlɛpɹəsi/ noun
Forms leprosies
- noun (pathology, medicine) An infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, gradually producing nerve damage and patches of skin necrosis and historically handled by permanently quarantining its sufferers.
- noun (medicine, dated, now usually proscribed) Similar contagious skin diseases causing light patches of scaly skin, particularly psoriasis, syphilis, vitiligo, scabies, and (biblical) the various diseases considered "tzaraath" in the Old Testament.
- noun (figurative) Anything considered similarly permanent, harmful, and communicable, particularly when such a thing should be handled by avoidance or isolation of its victims. “Sin is a spiritual leprosy.”
- noun (obsolete) Synonym of mange and glanders in horses.
- noun (obsolete, rare) Synonym of leprosarium: a place for the housing of lepers in isolation from the rest of society.
Synonyms
Hansensiasis Hansen's disease lepra mesel measles elephantiasis Greek elephantiasis Greek leprosy Greek lepra leprosity bastard scurvy leper mange and glanders in horses leprosarium
Etymology
From Norman leprosie, from Middle French leprosie (“leprosy & similar skin diseases”), probably from leprous (“leprous”) + -ie (“-y”) but possibly from Medieval Latin leprōsia (leprōsus + -ia) although this only historically attested in reference to leprosariums.
The shift of sense from psoriasis to Hansen's disease occurred in large part from the use of λέπρα (lépra) to translate Hebrew צרעת (“tzaraath”) in the Septuagint and its subsequent use in the New Testament and Late Latin.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A cutaneous disease which first appears as blebs or as reddish, shining, slightly prominent spots, with spreading edges. These are often followed by an eruption of dark or yellowish prominent nodules, frequently producing great deformity. In one variety of the disease, anæsthesia of the skin is a prominent symptom. In addition there may be wasting of the muscles, falling out of the hair and nails, and distortion of the hands and feet with destruction of the bones and joints. It is incurable, and is probably contagious.Mycobacterium leprae, curable in most cases by therapy with a combination of
Etymology [See Leprous.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “leprosy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details