-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.

Origin:
combining form representing Greek pátheia suffering, feeling, equivalent to páth(os) pathos + -eia -y³

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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-pathy is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

-pathy

—*n 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

[from Greek patheia suffering; see pathos]

-pathic

—*adj combining form*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

-pathy suff.

Disease: neuropathy.
A system of treating disease: homeopathy.

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