Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a traditionally Buddhist people living in the Sikkim region of India and neighboring parts of Nepal and Bhutan.
  • noun The Tibeto-Burman language of the Lepcha.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun An ethnic group, the aboriginal people of Sikkim, who live in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.
  • proper noun Their language, a Himalayish language in the Sino-Tibetan family, spoken by about 30000-50000 people.
  • proper noun The script used to write that language, also known as Róng, which is an abugida used only for that language.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Still the Lepcha was the most attractive, the least restrained, and the most natural in all his actions, the simplest in his wants and appliances, with a bamboo as his water-jug, an earthen-pot as his kettle, and all manner of herbs collected during the day's march to flavour his food.

    Himalayan Journals — Complete 1864

  • The Lepcha is the aboriginal inhabitant of Sikkim, and the prominent character in Dorjiling, where he undertakes all sorts of out-door employment.

    Himalayan Journals — Complete 1864

  • Soldiers in helicopters were on their way to the area while other rescue workers were using heavy machinery to try to clear the mud and rocks blocking the roads to the plant, local official Janim Lepcha said.

    17 dead in landslides at plant hit by India quake 2011

  • Earlier on he had sought to dismiss the moral qualms by learned allusions to cultural relativism (in East India, “Lepcha old men of eighty copulate with girls of eight, and nobody minds”) and literary history (Dante with nine-year-old Beatrice, Petrarch with twelve-year-old Laura, Poe with thirteen-year-old Virginia).

    The enactment of moral experience 2009

  • The people behind the Sikkim protest blog are also uploading YouTube videos like this one (Video Link), which shows ACT (Affected citizens of Teesta) members Dawa Lepcha (age 35) and Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha (20), on the 34th of their hunger strike.

    Boing Boing 2007

  • Approachable by a foot bridge, the Lepcha village is spread over the mountainside and is off limits to all but the Lepcha residents.

    Of tribes and times 2009

  • The protected Lepcha village across the Teesta at Rang Rang and the Bhutia heritage village up north in

    Of tribes and times 2009

  • Lepcha old men of eighty copulate with girls of eight, and nobody minds” p.

    Archive 2009-09-01 2009

  • There is a well guarded Lepcha village near Rang Rang.

    Of tribes and times 2009

  • This link points to "Weeping Sikkim," a blog that chronicles an ongoing hunger strike by the youth of Sikkim, India to demand goverment transparency and accountability regarding hydroelectric projects in Dzongu, the homeland of the Lepcha people.

    Boing Boing 2007

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