Other forms: pariahs
A pariah is somebody everybody refuses to have anything to do with. A social pariah, treated as a pariah, a pariah state.
The word comes from a caste name in southern India and was carried into English by colonial officials, which is worth knowing before using it lightly. A pariah state is one other governments will not deal with.
1nounpariahSomebody everybody refuses to have anything to do with.
“After the scandal, the once popular actor became a pariah in Hollywood.”
pariah is an outcast.
Tamil paraiyar names a caste of drummers, from parai, a drum; British officials in India carried the word into English.
Sanskrit
पर — distant; outsider
Malayalam
പറയർ
Tamil
பறையர்
English, today
pariah
Built from
From Tamil பறையர், from பறையன் (“drummer”), from பறை (“drum”) or from Malayalam പറയർ, from പറയൻ (“drummer”), from പറ (“drum”). Parai in Tamil or Para in Malayalam refers to a type of large drum designed to announce the king’s notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste-based society, they were in the lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah. Alternatively, derived from Sanskrit पर (“distant; outsider”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA