pariah: [17] Now a general term for an ‘outcast’, pariah came into English from the caste system of southern India. It originally denoted a member of the largest of the lower castes, which was named in Tamil paraiyan. This meant literally ‘drummer’ (it was a derivative of parai ‘large festival drum’), a reference to the hereditary role of the paraiyar (plural) as drummers in festival parades.
pariah (n.)
1610s, from Portuguese paria or directly from Tamil paraiyar, plural of paraiyan "drummer" (at festivals, the hereditary duty of members of the largest of the lower castes of southern India), from parai "large festival drum." "Especially numerous at Madras, where its members supplied most of the domestics in European service" [OED]. Applied by Hindus and Europeans to any members of low Hindu castes and even to outcastes. Extended meaning "social outcast" is first attested 1819.
雙語例句
1. Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.
不一會(huì)兒,湯姆碰上了村里的少年棄兒.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
2. His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal, a pariah.