Which word means "diseased" or bad?

• A. Pathologic
• B. Pathology
• C. Patho-
• D. Pathogen

Answer: (A)

Pathologic is the adjective form that directly describes something as relating to disease or in a diseased or abnormal state. In medical terms, the root path- means disease, and the suffix -ologic or -ic turns it into an adjective about disease. So pathologic would be used to say a condition or tissue is diseased.

Pathology, on the other hand, is the study of disease itself—the science that examines the causes and effects of diseases. Patho- is a combining form used to build other terms like pathophysiology or pathogenesis, not a standalone descriptor. Pathogen refers to an agent that causes disease, such as a bacterium or virus, not the state of being diseased.

So the word that means diseased or bad is pathologic because it directly conveys the diseased state, whereas the others relate to the study, the disease-causing agents, or serve as a prefix.