apathy
/ˈæ.pə.θi/noun
apathy is spelled A-P-A-T-H-Y: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, apathy means “Lack of emotion or motivation; lack of interest or enthusiasm towards something; disinterest (in something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of apathy is apathies.
How many letters and syllables are in apathy?
| Letters | 6: A-P-A-T-H-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,629th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is apathy?
Apathy appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce apathy?
- /ˈæ.pə.θi/
Apathy has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-apathy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of apathy
- apathies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does apathy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Lack of emotion or motivation; lack of interest or enthusiasm towards something; disinterest (in something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Apathy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lack of emotion or motivation:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | apathie |
| German | Apathie, Phlegma |
| Portuguese | apatia, desânimo |
| Spanish | apatía, displicencia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does apathy come from?
From French apathie, from Latin apathīa, from Ancient Greek ἀπάθεια (apátheia, “impassibility”, “insensibility”, “freedom from emotion”), from ἀπαθής (apathḗs, “not suffering or having suffered”, “without experience of”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + πάθος (páthos, “anything that befalls one”, “incident”, “emotion”, “passion”). Doublet of apatheia, which was borrowed directly from Ancient Greek.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).