字面：得痲瘋病的人
字面的用法，也是那一圈距離最初的來源。
noun · C1
A person who has leprosy, an illness that damages the skin and the nerves. Many people now prefer to say "a person with leprosy" instead of using this word.
痲瘋病患者
核心畫面
The picture to hold is not the illness but the distance around the person. For centuries someone with had to live outside the town, and ring a bell so that others could step back before they came close. That ring of empty space is what the word really carries, and it is why the same word still works when nobody is ill at all — when a group decides to leave a space around one person.
可以想成：這個字真正的畫面不是那個病，而是病人周圍那一圈空出來的距離。幾百年來，得痲瘋病的人被要求住在城外，走近別人…更多收起
可以想成：這個字真正的畫面不是那個病，而是病人周圍那一圈空出來的距離。幾百年來，得痲瘋病的人被要求住在城外，走近別人前還要搖鈴，好讓大家先退開。那一圈空地才是這個字帶著走的東西。也因為如此，就算完全沒人生病，只要一群人決定在某個人身邊空出那一圈，同一個字照樣用得上。From the word’s history
From Middle English lepre, meaning the disease leprosy, from Latin lepra and Greek lepra. The word first named the illness and only later named the person who had it.
這個字來自中古英文 lepre，而 lepre 指的是「痲瘋病」這個病本身，再往上是拉丁文 lepra、希臘文 λέπρα。也就是說，它先是病名，後來才變成稱呼人。這一步「從病滑到人」，正好解釋了為什麼現在很多人覺得用 leper 稱呼病人並不妥當。
Wiktionary entry for 'leper' (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1123905170): "From Middle English lepre, leprosy, from Old French, from Latin leprae, lepra, from Ancient Greek λέπρα (lépra)."
Two branches
比喻：被整群人躲開的人
病消失了，那一圈空出來的距離留了下來。所以這個用法講的其實是「群體的反應」，不是任何疾病。
noun · C1
Someone who other people keep away from and will not deal with, usually because of something they have done that others disapprove of.
被排擠的人；過街老鼠