BharatNotes Pathogen
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
India's recurrent public-health crises underscore the need for a robust One Health surveillance architecture, since zoonotic pathogens that leap from animal reservoirs to human populations can swiftly overwhelm an unprepared healthcare system.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
pathogenic (adj), pathogenicity (n), pathogenesis (n), pathology (n), pathological (adj)
Root
Greek pathos = suffering, disease; -genēs = born of, producing → pathogen = disease-producer
Etymology
From Greek pathos (suffering, disease) + -genēs (born of, producing); first used in English in the 1880s.
Memory Hook
Break it as "PATHO-GEN": "patho-" (as in pathology, suffering/disease) + "-gen" (generator) — literally a "disease-generator".
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