-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).
Compare -path, -pathia.
Origin
combining form representing Greek pátheia suffering, feeling, equivalent to páth(os) pathos + -eia -y3
British Dictionary definitions for -pathy

-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 Origin
from Greek patheia suffering; see pathos
Word Origin and History for -pathy

word-forming element meaning "feeling, suffering, emotion; disorder, disease," from Latin -pathia, from Greek -patheia "act of suffering, feeling" (see pathos). Meaning "system of treatment of disease" is abstracted from homeopathy (q.v.).

-pathy in Medicine

-pathy suff.

  1. Disease: neuropathy.

  2. A system of treating disease: homeopathy.