Pathology
/pəˈθɒl.ə.dʒi/noun
The branch of medicine that studies the causes and effects of disease.
Did you know?Its root pathos also lives inside words like empathy and sympathy, where ancient “suffering” slowly evolved into feeling-with—proof that language can turn pain into power.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*peh₂-
“to suffer, endure”
Ancient Greek
Greek
πάθος (pathos)
“suffering, experience, feeling, emotion”
Ancient Greek
Greek
-λογία (-logia)
“study, discourse”
Late Latin
Latin
pathologia
“a discourse or treatise on disease”
16th–17th Century
English
pathologie / pathology
“the study of disease and its causes”
Modern English
English
pathology
“the medical science of disease”