A person affected by leprosy or a leper, an archaic or dialectal term combining 'bel-' with older forms.
From Middle English, possibly combining 'bel-' (perhaps from Old French 'bel' meaning 'beautiful' used ironically) with 'leper.' The exact etymology is uncertain but may reflect folk etymology or dialectal variation.
This word shows how disease terminology shifted over centuries—what was once called a 'beleper' would later be called simply a 'leper,' losing the mysterious 'bel-' prefix entirely!
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