leprous

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromλέπρᾱ“leprosy”
2. Latin · derived fromlepra“leprosy”
3. Late Latin · derived fromleprosus“having leprosy; (alchemy) of metals: impure; a leper”
4. Old French · derived fromleprous
5. Middle French · derived fromlepros
6. Anglo-Norman · derived fromleprous
7. Middle English · inherited fromleprous“having leprosy or a skin disease with symptoms like leprosy; (alchemy) of metals or minerals: impure; a leper”
8. English todayleprous

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).

Words from the same roots