lepra
/ˈlɛprə/
lepra noun: synonym of leprosy.
Noun
lepra (uncountable)
- Synonym of leprosy.
- Lepra is an endemic, chronic, malignant, constitutional disease, due to a specific bacillus.1914, Henry Weightman Stelwagon, Treatise on Diseases of the Skin, 7th edition, page 914
- Synonyms:
- leprosy
- Synonym of psoriasis.
- Lepra and psoriasis are identical, though the two names are retained.1864, William Tilbury Fox, Skin Diseases, page 43
- Synonyms:
- psoriasis
- Any layer of algae, lichens, or other substance producing a leprosylike appearance on the surfaces of plants.
- Lepra is frequently met with on the trunks, especially of young trees.1805, translation of Karl Ludwig Willdenow as The Principles of Botany and of Vegetable Physiology, p. 344
Synonyms of lepra
Origin of lepra
From Latin lepra (“psoriasis & similar skin diseases”), from Koine Greek λέπρα (lépra, “psoriasis & similar skin diseases”), from λεπρός (leprós, “scaly”), from either λεπίς (lepís, “scale”) or λέπος (lépos, “husk, scale”) + -ρος (-ros, suffix forming adjectives). 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.
Words formed from lepra
- lepra Arabica
- lepra bacillus
- lepra cell
- lepra colony
- lepra Graeca
- lepraphobia
- lepra reaction
Questions about lepra
- What does lepra mean?
- Lepra means synonym of leprosy.
- What part of speech is lepra?
- Lepra is a noun.
- How do you pronounce lepra?
- Lepra is pronounced /ˈlɛprə/.
Words near lepra in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lepra (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “lepra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lepra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.