pathetic
/pəˈθɛtɪk/adjective
pathetic is spelled P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, pathetic means “Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in pathetic?
| Letters | 8: P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,957th 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 pathetic?
Pathetic appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,957th 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 pathetic?
- /pəˈθɛtɪk/
Pathetic 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-pathetic.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pathetic
- more pathetic comparative
- most pathetic superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pathetic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
The child’s pathetic pleas for forgiveness stirred the young man’s heart.
- 2
Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy.
You can't even run two miles? That’s pathetic.
- 3
obsoleteExpressing or showing anger; passionate.
- 4
Trochlear.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pathetic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pathétique , lamentable, minable |
| German | rührend, mitleiderregend, bemitleidenswert , erbärmlich, jämmerlich, peinlich |
| Portuguese | patético |
| Spanish | patético, penoso |
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 pathetic come from?
From Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathētikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from παθητός (pathētós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”). By surface analysis, path- + -etic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).