pathos
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "pathos", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "pathos" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "pathos" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
pathos is aEnglishnoun. It means: The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth... Pronounced /ˈpeɪˌθɒs/. Often confused with pats and paths.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pathos |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpeɪˌθɒs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #35,870 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pathos is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpeɪˌθɒs/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,870 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for pathos, with forms such as "apthos", "pahtos", and "pathhos". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "pats", "paths", "patio", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is pathos, spelled P-A-T-H-O-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.
- 2A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker uses emotional appeals to the audience as the main form of persuasion.
- 3An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
- 4In theology and existentialist ethics following Kierkegaard and Heidegger, a deep and abiding commitment of the heart, as in the notion of "finding your passion" as an important aspect of a fully lived, engaged life.
- 5Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apthos,pahtos,pathhos,pathoss,pathso,patohs,patthos,ppathos,ptahos
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for pathos
Misspelling Variants of "pathos"
Frequency rank: #35,870 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: