leprosery

English

Alternative forms

• leprosary, leproserie

Etymology

Borrowed from French léproserie and léprosarie, from Medieval Latin leprōsārium, from leprōsus (“leprous”) + -ārium (“-ary: building related to”). Equivalent to leprose +‎ -ery.

Noun

leprosery (plural leproseries)

1. A building used to house lepers, usually in permanent quarantine from the rest of society.
   • 1818 Aug., Friend of India, p. 92:

     Lewis VIII, king of France, made bequests in the year 1227 to two thousand Leprosaries within his own dominions.

   • 1961, Graham Greene, Burnt-out Case, page 13:

     There was a rule that the leproserie should take contagious cases only.

Synonyms

• lazar house, leper house

Hypernyms

• leprosarium, hospital

Translations

building used to quarantine and treat lepers — see also leper colony

• Dutch: leprozerie (nl) f, leprozenhuis (nl) n, lazerij (nl) f
• French: léproserie (fr) f, ladrerie (fr) f, maladrerie (fr) f
• Galician: malataría f, lazareto (gl) m, leprosaría (gl) f, gafaría f
• German: Leprakrankenhaus n, Lepraheim n, Leprosorium (de) n, Leprosenhaus (de) n
• Greek: λαζαρέτο (el) n (lazaréto)
• Italian: lebbrosario m
• Latin: leprosorium n, leprosarium n
• Norwegian: leprosarium n
• Polish: leprozorium (pl) n
• Portuguese: leprosário (pt) m, lazareto (pt) m, leprosório m, gafaria f, leprosaria f
• Serbo-Croatian: лепрозаријум m (leprozarijum)
• Tagalog: ketungan
• Volapük: lepradanöp

References

• “leprosery, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.