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The term pariah dog, also called pie dog or primitive dog, originally referred to the wild dogs of India, but has come to refer in common parlance to any population of wild or feral dogs who live near human settlements worldwide, scavenging for food and seldom interacting directly with humans. These populations may or may not be related to the extant pariah dogs of India, depending on their location and heritage. The term used to be an epithet to the same extent that the word pariah could be used to denigrate as well as designate the lowest social caste of Indians, but is now used in cynology and by kennel clubs with no negative judgment implied.