pathogen
Americannoun
noun
-
An agent that causes infection or disease, especially a microorganism, such as a bacterium or protozoan, or a virus.
-
See Note at germ
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pathogen
Explanation
A pathogen is a tiny living organism, such as a bacterium or virus, that makes people sick. Washing your hands frequently helps you avoid the pathogens that can make you sick. Pathos is the Greek word for disease and -genes means "born of." So, a pathogen is something that causes disease, like a virus like the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold. At summer picnics, people are cautious about keeping certain foods like potato salad in coolers with ice — the eggs in such dishes spoil quickly out in the heat, introducing pathogens that can make people sick.
Vocabulary lists containing pathogen
Common Senses: Path ("Feeling")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mangwana gave as an example its Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing scheme to deal with future pandemics.
From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026
The authors of the report also warn against a Pathogen X, or as-yet-unidentified bug that may cause major public health incidents in the future.
From Salon • Aug. 8, 2024
"Pathogen prospecting provides not only an opportunity to reconstruct malaria's historical epidemiology, but it also informs pathogen/vector evolution and climate-based predictive modelling of malaria distribution."
From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2024
And the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, backed by several governmental and philanthropic organizations, is supporting efforts to increase the use of genomic sequencing for disease surveillance across the continent.
From Scientific American • Nov. 21, 2022
The government’s policy for such experiments is the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight, or P3CO framework.
From New York Times • Oct. 22, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
