idiopathy

From Latin idiopathia, from Ancient Greek ἰδιοπάθεια (idiopátheia). By surface analysis, idio- +‎ -pathy. First appears c. 1634, in the publications of Philiatreus (fl. 1630).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪdiˈɑpəθi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪdiˈɒpəθi/
• Rhymes: -ɒpəθi
• US: idi‧op‧a‧thy; UK: idi‧o‧pa‧thy

idiopathy (plural idiopathies)

1. (pathology) A disease or condition arising spontaneously or having no known cause.
   • 1970, D. V. Salcedo, M. G. Mujica, “A Study of Sterilized Women in the Urban Communities of the Western Area of Santiago, 1963-1966”, in The Journal of Sex Research, volume 6, number 1, page 42:

     The sterilization that was first conceived as a recourse of limited medical reach came to be considered an efficient eugenical procedure that could prevent descendents^[sic] with hereditary and transmissible disorders, such as mental deficiency, epilepsy, idiopathies, etc.

• idiopathic