Psychopaths

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsaɪkoʊˌpæθs/

Definitions

1. Individuals exhibiting chronic antisocial behavior, lack of empathy, and manipulation of others while often appearing charming
2. People characterized by a pervasive pattern of deceitfulness, emotional detachment, and a disregard for the rights of others
3. Persons who demonstrate extreme emotional remoteness and a propensity for violent or harmful actions without remorse

Etymology: "Psychopaths" is the plural of "psychopath," and the noun's roots are a pair of Greek words: "psukhē," meaning soul or mind, and "pathos," meaning suffering or disease. The combination reached English through German, where "psychopathisch" was used to describe abnormal mental states. Read literally, the word points to a sick or suffering mind, which is a quite different picture from the cold, calculating figure the term now brings to mind. The Greek parts were never combined as a technical term in antiquity. Ancient writers did use "pathos" in its broader sense of emotion or experience, but the compound "psychopathy" belongs to the modern era, when German psychiatrists were building a vocabulary for disorders of the mind. The word's current meaning, a person lacking empathy and conscience, narrowed considerably from the broad German sense of any mental illness.

Synonyms: sociopaths, antisocials