Standard Lemma guide

pathogenic

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, US: /pæθəˈd͡ʒɛnɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛnɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: P AE2 TH AH0 JH EH1 N IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Able to cause (harmful) disease.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

Examples

  • While the environment is teeming with bacteria and fungi, most are not pathogenic.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Consisting of harsh, percussive, nonverbal sounds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

able to cause disease

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • infective agents
  • pathogenic bacteria

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: infective, morbific

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From patho- + -genic.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: патаге́нны (patahjénny) — able to cause disease
  • Belarusian: хваробатво́рны (xvarobatvórny) — able to cause disease
  • Catalan: patogen — able to cause disease
  • Catalan: patogènic — able to cause disease
  • Chinese Mandarin: 致病的 (zhìbìng de) — able to cause disease
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病原的 (bìngyuán de) — able to cause disease
  • Czech: patogenní — able to cause disease
  • Czech: choroboplodný — able to cause disease
  • Dutch: pathogeen — able to cause disease
  • Dutch: ziekteverwekkend — able to cause disease
  • Finnish: patogeeninen — able to cause disease
  • French: pathogène — able to cause disease
  • Galician: patóxeno — able to cause disease
  • German: pathogen — able to cause disease
  • German: krankheitserregend — able to cause disease
  • Hungarian: kórokozó — able to cause disease
  • Italian: patogenico — able to cause disease
  • Kazakh: патогендік (patogendık) — able to cause disease
  • Polish: chorobotwórczy — able to cause disease
  • Polish: patogenny — able to cause disease
  • Polish: patogenetyczny — able to cause disease
  • Polish: patogeniczny — able to cause disease
  • Portuguese: patogénico — able to cause disease
  • Portuguese: patógeno — able to cause disease
  • Russian: патоге́нный (patogénnyj) — able to cause disease
  • Russian: болезнетво́рный (boleznetvórnyj) — able to cause disease
  • Spanish: patógeno — able to cause disease
  • Spanish: patogénico — able to cause disease
  • Swedish: patogen — able to cause disease
  • Tagalog: mulsakitin — able to cause disease
  • Ukrainian: патоге́нний (patohénnyj) — able to cause disease
  • Ukrainian: хвороботво́рний (xvorobotvórnyj) — able to cause disease