-pathy

1. a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “suffering,” “feeling” ( antipathy; sympathy ); in compound words of modern formation, often used with the meaning “morbid affection,” “disease” ( arthropathy; deuteropathy; neuropathy; psychopathy ), and hence used also in names of systems or methods of treating disease ( allopathy; homeopathy; hydropathy; osteopathy ).

-pathy

combining form

1. indicating feeling, sensitivity, or perception

   telepathy

2. indicating disease or a morbid condition

   psychopathy

3. indicating a method of treating disease

   osteopathy

Derived Forms

• -pathic, combining_form:in_adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of -pathy¹

Combining form representing Greek pátheia suffering, feeling, equivalent to páth ( os ) pathos + -eia -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of -pathy¹

from Greek patheia suffering; see pathos

Example Sentences

The Axiom-1 crew included Connor, Stibbe, a businessman and former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, and Mark Pathy, the chief executive of Mavrik Corp., a Canadian investment firm.

From Washington Post

Sym = con or com, and pathy = passion; hence, compassion = sympathy.—Give an English derivative expressing the same thing.

From Literature

Axiom handled the logistics for the trip for its three paying customers: American real estate tycoon Larry Connor; Canadian private equity CEO Mark Pathy; and Israeli investor Eytan Stibbe of Tel Aviv.

From Seattle Times

“It’s been eye-opening in so many ways,” Pathy said, “that I think will have such a lasting impact on my life.”

From Seattle Times

According to ABC the private citizens who paid $55M each for the week-long trip, brokered by Houston, Texas-based startup Axiom Space, included Larry Connor of Connor Group; Mark Pathy of Mavrik Corp.; and Eytan Stibbe, of Vital Capital.

From Salon

Words That Use -pathy

What does -pathy mean?

The combining form -pathy is used like a suffix with a variety of meanings, including “suffering,” “disease,” and “methods of treating disease.” It is widely used in medical terms, especially in pathology.

The form -pathy comes from the Greek pátheia, meaning “suffering” or “feeling.” It shares an origin with the English word pathos. You can learn more about the meaning of pathos at our entry for the word. The words antipathy, apathy, empathy, and sympathy also share a root with the Greek pátheia.

What are variants of -pathy?

An obsolete variant of -pathy is -pathia, as in psychopathia. This form is also closely related to two other combining forms: -path and -pathic. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entries for all three forms.

Examples of -pathy

An example of a word you may have encountered that features -pathy is psychopathy, “a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.”

The first portion of the word, psycho-, means “psyche” or “psychological,” from the Greek psȳchḗ, meaning “mind.” As we have seen, -pathy means “disease.” Psychopathy literally translates to “mind disease.”

What are some words that use the combining form -pathy?

• adenopathy
• arthropathy
• capillaropathy
• cardiopathy
• celiopathy
• choroidopathy
• cytopathy
• dermatopathy
• dermopathy
• enteropathy
• erotopathy
• gastropathy
• gynecopathy
• hemopathy
• idiopathy (using the equivalent form of -pathy in Greek)
• keratopathy
• lalopathy
• lymphopathy
• maculopathy
• mastopathy
• mazopathy
• myelopathy
• nephropathy
• onychopathy
• orchiopathy
• otopathy
• phonopathy
• renopathy
• sociopathy
• splanchnopathy
• splenopathy
• spondylopathy
• stomatopathy
• telepathy
• trichopathy
• ureteropathy
• uropathy
• vasculopathy

What are some other forms that -pathy may be commonly confused with?

• -parous
• -penia
• -phagia
• -phasia
• -phony
• -plasia

Break it down!

The combining form oto- means “ear.” With this in mind, what kind of medical condition is otopathy?