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pathos

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pa⋅thos

  [pey-thos, -thohs, -thaws]
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–noun
1. the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.
2. pity.
3. Obsolete. suffering.
Origin:
1570–80; < Gk páthos suffering, sensation, akin to páschein to suffer
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pa·thos   (pā'thŏs', -thôs')   
n.  

  1. A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

  2. The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.


[Greek, suffering; see kwent(h)- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

pathos 
"quality that arouses pity or sorrow," 1668, from Gk. pathos "suffering, feeling, emotion," lit. "what befalls one," related to paskhein "to suffer," and penthos "grief, sorrow;" from PIE base *kwenth- "to suffer, endure" (cf. O.Ir. cessaim, Lith. kenciu "suffer").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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