Other forms: sociopaths
A sociopath is somebody with no conscience about how they treat others. A charming sociopath, called him a sociopath, a functioning sociopath.
It is not a clinical diagnosis: doctors say antisocial personality disorder, and sociopath and psychopath are both popular rather than medical terms. It is thrown about as an insult far more often than it is used accurately.
1nounsociopathSomebody with no conscience about how they treat others.
“The detective realised the killer was a sociopath who felt no guilt at all.”
sociopath is a person.
From socio-, society, plus -path, from Greek pathos, suffering or disease. Coined about 1914.
Proto-Indo-European
*pent-
Proto-Indo-European
*póntoh₁s
Proto-Indo-Iranian
*pántaHs
ira-pro
*pántaHs
Proto-Germanic
*paþaz — path
Proto-West Germanic
*paþ
Old English
pæþ — path, track
Middle English
path
English
path
English, today
sociopath
Built from
From socio + path. First use appears c. 1914. path comes from Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic paþ, from Proto-Germanic paþaz (“path”). The Proto-Germanic term is possibly borrowed from ira, from ira-pro pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-Iranian pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European póntoh₁s, from the root pent- (“to pass”), but this is disputed. 2 Cognate with stq Paad, Pad (“path”), West Frisian paad (“path”), Dutch pad (“path”), German Pfad (“path”), German Low German Padd (“path”), lb Pad (“path”). Indo-Iranian cognates could be ae 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (“way”), peo 𐎱𐎰, Hindi पथ, Sanskrit पन्था (“path”). See also English find. a doublet of panth.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA