From Tamil பறையர், from பறையன் ("drummer"), from பறை ("drum") or from Malayalam പറയർ, from പറയൻ ("drummer"), from പറ ("drum").

Alternatively, derived from Sanskrit पर.

• IPA: /pəˈɹaɪə/

pariah (plural pariahs)

1. Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
   • 1857, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “The Fitz-Boodle Papers”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume IV, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC ↗, page 4 ↗:

     What is this smoking that it should be considered a crime? I believe in my heart that women are jealous of it, as of a rival. They speak of it as of some secret, awful vice that seizes upon a man, and makes him a Pariah from genteel society.

2. (figurative) A similarly despised group of people or species of animal.
3. (zoology) Ellipsis of pariah dog: an Indian breed, any stray dog in Indian contexts.

• French: paria
• German: Paria
• Italian: paria (male or female)
• Portuguese: pária
• Russian: па́рия
• Spanish: paria