Meaning

adjective deserving or inciting pity; ; ; - Galsworthy

adjective inspiring mixed contempt and pity

adjective inspiring scornful pity; - Dashiell Hammett

originFrom Middle French pathétique, from Latin patheticus, from Ancient Greek παθητικός (pathētikós, “subject to feeling, capable of feeling, impassioned”), from παθητός (pathētós, “one who has suffered, subject to suffering”), from πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”). By surface analysis, path- + -etic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0