-pathy

American  

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 ).

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-pathy British  

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

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Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

• -pathic combining form

Etymology

Origin of -pathy

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