pathos
UK[ˈpeɪθɒs]US[ˈpeɪθɑːs]
n
A quality in a situation, person, or work of art that evokes feelings of pity, sympathy, or sadness.
n
(as a mode of persuasion in rhetoric) An appeal to the audience's emotions.
Etymology
The word 'pathos' entered English in the 17th century directly from the Greek word 'πάθος' (pathos), which means "suffering, feeling, emotion, calamity." In Greek, it is related to the verb 'πάσχειν' (paschein, "to suffer") and the root 'path-', denoting experience or undergoing. In classical rhetoric, as defined by Aristotle, 'pathos' was one of the three primary modes of persuasion, specifically the appeal to the audience's emotions, distinct from 'logos' (logic) and 'ethos' (character). The term's journey into English preserved this technical rhetorical meaning while also broadening to describe any quality that evokes a profound sense of pity or sympathetic sorrow in literature, drama, or real-life situations.
Analysis
The word is a direct loanword from Greek and functions as a simplex noun in English. It is not productively formed from separable English morphemes.
Examples
The film's final scene was filled with a deep sense of pathos.
The speaker used pathos effectively, moving the audience to tears with her personal story.
There is a quiet pathos in the abandoned old photographs.