A person considered to be of low social status or poor character; someone who lives dishonestly or unethically.
Compound of 'low' (Old English lah) and 'life' (Old English lif). The compound emerged in the late 1800s as American slang to describe people at the bottom of social hierarchies or living criminal lifestyles.
The term 'lowlife' is interesting because it reveals how societies create language to distance themselves from people—it suggests an entire category of humans living at a 'low' level, which is really just a way of refusing to see their humanity.
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