Ugly word of the day: empathic A barbaric word. The root, of course, is "pathos," and the adjectival form is "pathetic." From "pathetic" come "apathetic," "sympathetic," and "empathetic. " “Empathic” is an ugly version of "empathetic." It adds nothing to the language except ugliness. No one yet has dared to replace "pathetic" with “pathic,” or "apathetic" with “apathic,” or "sympathetic" with “sympathic.” But somehow some deeply misguided and miseducated miscreant has introduced “empathic” to the language. May he or she or they suffer horribly and learn to regret.