leprous
/ˈlɛpɹəs/
"leprous" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“leprous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.
Corpus desk
Index EN-leprous · leprous · English
leprous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | leprous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlɛpɹəs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “leprous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
leprous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlɛpɹəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for leprous in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 Fren… The correct English form is leprous, spelled L-E-P-R-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.
- 2Infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy.
- 3Similar to leprosy or its symptoms.
- 4Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy.
- 5Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned.
- 6Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure.
- 7Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”).
- 8Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how leprous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1748, Philip Luckombe, A Tour Through Ireland, London: T. Lowndes & Son, 1783, Journey the Fourth, p. 324, […] a dissenting minister […] came to this well, over-run with leprous eruptions on the skin, which had rendered his joints so rigid, that he could neither hold his bridle, nor feed himself […]
Nor shall the art which you and I need be merely a purple robe woven by a slave and thrown over the whitened body of some leprous king to adorn or to conceal the sin of his luxury, but rather shall it be the noble and beautiful expression of a people’s noble and beautiful life.
Etymology
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).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.