Matthew 8:2

In Hebrew the word translated "leper" is צרוע which is actually a passive verb meaning "he who is scourged" from the root צרע "to scourge." Leprosy as a noun is the feminine צרעת literally meaning "a scourging."  Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the meaning of צר עת as split into two words is compression of time.

צָר

Root צרר, semantic field:

• narrow, constricted (physical or psychological)
• distress, trouble, constraint
• also “enemy,” from the idea of one who presses or oppresses.

The core image is compression, pressure, constraint.

עֵת

• “time,” “moment,” “appointed moment.”

When combined, צר + עת yields:

• “a time of distress,”
• “a moment of pressure,”
• “a constricted time,”
• “a time pressed tight.”

The nuance is not emotional only, but structural:
a time-period understood as narrowed, lacking space for maneuver, a moment when conditions are compressed or closing in.