pathogenesis

Etymology

It is formed from English patho- + genesis,^[2][3][4][5] perhaps after French pathogénésie (1818), German Pathogenese (1833) or New Latin pathogenesis (recorded by 1831);^[2] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com call it New Latin,^[6][7] and Etymonline notes that it was used earlier in German.^[3] The first element is the combining form of Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering, disease”);^[2][3] the second goes back, through Latin, to Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “origin, source, birth”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The production or development of disease: 1850, in A. G. Hull's edition of J. Laurie's Homœopathic Domestic Medicine.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1841,^[3] while the 1989 edition of the OED and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate date it to 1876 and Dictionary.com to 1875–80.^[8][9][7]

Semantic evolution

The anglicized form pathogeny is older: Etymonline dates it to 1832 and the OED to 1842, with the same meaning.^[3][2] The OED also notes that the adjective pathogenetic is recorded before the noun.^[2] In current medical use the word covers the events and mechanisms, pathological, physiological or biochemical, by which a disease is produced and develops.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1850 – the production or development of disease.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1841.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The origin and development of a disease, and the mechanisms by which it is produced: the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.^{[10][6][2][5]}

Word family

• pathogenetic

Related words

• pathogen
• pathogenic
• pathogenicity
• pathogeny
• pathos
• pathology
• genesis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins