-pathy
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).
compare -path, -pathia.
-pathy
combining form
indicating feeling, sensitivity, or perception telepathy
indicating disease or a morbid condition psychopathy
indicating a method of treating disease osteopathy
derived forms
-pathic, combining_form:in_adjective
word origin
from greek patheia suffering; see pathos
-pathy suff.
disease: neuropathy.
a system of treating disease: homeopathy.
Read Also:
- -ped
a combining form with the meaning “having a foot” of the kind specified by the initial element: pinnatiped. also, -pede. compare -pod. -ped combining form foot or feet quadruped, centipede word origin from latin pēs, ped- foot
- -pede
variant of -ped: centipede. -ped combining form foot or feet quadruped, centipede word origin from latin pēs, ped- foot -pede combining form a variant of -ped
- -penia
a combining form used in the formation of compound words that have the general sense “lack, deficiency,” as specified by the initial element: leukopenia. -penia suff. lack; deficiency: leukopenia.
- -person
a combining form of person, replacing in existing compound words such paired, s-x-specific forms as -man, and -woman, or -er1, and -ess: chairperson; salesperson; waitperson. usage note -person suffix sometimes used instead of -man and -woman or -lady chairperson, salesperson -man
- -petal
a combining form meaning “seeking, moving toward” that specified by the initial element, used in the formation of compound words: acropetal. -petal combining form seeking centripetal word origin from new latin -petus, from latin petere to seek -petal suff. moving toward: basipetal.