-pathy

Also ‑path, ‑pathic, and ‑pathist.

Disease or disorder; treatment of disease.

Greek patheia, suffering, feeling.

Several common terms in ‑pathy have been imported entire from Greek and relate to feelings: antipathy, apathy, empathy, sympathy. Apart from these, the ending frequently indicates a disease or disorder (cardiopathy, psychopathy) or a method of treating a disorder (homeopathy, osteopathy). For more details and examples, see the table below.

Terms that refer to systems of treatment can have agent nouns in ‑path for a practitioner (naturopath, osteopath); less commonly, terms in ‑pathy for disorders have nouns in ‑path for a sufferer from the condition (psychopath, sociopath, though the former in common usage refers to a sufferer from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviour). Rarely, terms for therapists are formed in ‑pathist (homeopathist, hydropathist).

Adjectives are formed in ‑pathic: apathetic, hydropathic, myopathic, sympathetic.

Examples of words in -pathy
All word sources are from Greek unless otherwise stated.

adenopathy

enlargement or disease of any gland

adēn, gland

allopathy

the treatment of disease by conventional means, that is, with drugs having effects opposite to the symptoms

allos, other

arthropathy

disease of the joints

arthron, joint

cardiopathy

a disease or disorder of the heart

kardia, heart

enteropathy

a disease of the intestine, especially the small intestine

enteron, intestine

homeopathy

a system of complementary medicine in which disease is treated by minute doses of natural substances that in a healthy person would produce symptoms of disease

homoios, like

hydropathy

the treatment of illness through the use of water

hudōr, water

myelopathy

disease of the spinal cord

muelos, marrow

myopathy

a disease of muscle tissue

mus, mu‑, mouse or muscle

osteopathy

a complementary medicine that treats medical disorders through the manipulation and massage of the skeleton and musculature

osteon, bone

psychopathy

mental illness or disorder

psukhē, breath, soul, mind

retinopathy

disease of the retina which results in impairment or loss of vision

Latin rete, net

sociopathy

a personality disorder involving extreme antisocial attitudes and behaviour

English social

telepathy

the supposed communication of thoughts or ideas by means other than the known senses

tēle‑, far off