leprosy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɛpɹəsi/
enpr: lěp'rə-sē
Forms: form: leprosies
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.
Senses: examples: text: Then is it surely a leprosy
ref: 1535, Myles Coverdale, Bible, Lev. 8:3
text: The great London doctors knew nothing about leprosy and cared less.
ref: 1925, Frank Harris, My Life and Loves, volume III, page 183:
text: The new drug—diaminodiphenylsulphone... offers the first certain cure... and leprosy can be cured in six months
ref: 1954, Elspeth J. Huxley, Four Guineas, page 267:
text: Leprosy seems to have spread from India to the Middle East by early antiquity and from there to Europe during the time of the Roman Empire.
topics: medicine
pathology
sciences
glosses: 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.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: Sin is a spiritual leprosy.
glosses: Anything considered similarly permanent, harmful, and communicable, particularly when such a thing should be handled by avoidance or isolation of its victims.
qualifier: veterenary medicine
glosses: A contagious disease causing similar effects in animals, particularly
Ellipsis of murine leprosy or feline leprosy (“diseases caused in rodents and cats by Mycobacterium lepraemurium”).
qualifier: veterenary medicine
glosses: A contagious disease causing similar effects in animals, particularly
Synonym of mange and glanders in horses.
synonyms: word: mange and glanders in horses
glosses: Synonym of leprosarium: a place for the housing of lepers in isolation from the rest of society.
synonyms: word: leprosarium
extra: a place for the housing of lepers in isolation from the rest of society
Synonyms: sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: Hansen's disease
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: lepra
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: mesel
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: measles
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: elephantiasis
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: Greek elephantiasis
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: Greek leprosy
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: Greek lepra
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: leprosity
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: bastard scurvy
sense: disease caused by M. leprae
word: leper
Hyponyms: word: histoid leprosy
word: lepromatous leprosy
word: lepromatoid leprosy
word: multibacillary leprosy
word: paucibacillary leprosy
word: tuberculoid leprosy
word: alphos
word: melas
word: leuce
word: vitiligo
Derived terms: antileprosy
antileprotic
Arabian leprosy
bastard leprosy
feline leprosy
Greek leprosy
histoid leprosy
leproid
lepromatoid leprosy
lepromatous leprosy
leprophobia
leprosied
leprosity
leprostatic
leprosy bacilus
leprosylike
leprosy village
leprotic
multibacillary leprosy
murine leprosy
neural leprosy
nodular leprosy
paucibacillary leprosy
rat leprosy
tuberculoid leprosy
white leprosy
Related terms: leper
leprologic
leprological
leprologist
leprology
leproma
lepromatic
lepromatoid
lepromatous
leprous
tetter