Meanings
- not comparablemedicineOf, relating to, or designating a disease or condition having no known cause.
So when I was diagnosed with a fairly difficult-to-treat disease called idiopathic angioedema and chronic urticaria (a fancy way of saying we don’t know why you swell and hey, enjoy the 24/7 hives) six months ago, I wasn't quite sure how to cope.
2014 January 20, Simona Supekar, “How the Internet Helped Me Cope With My Rare Disease”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 29 Mar 20141 more example
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), often referred to by doctors today as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a type of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and stiffness for more than six weeks in a child aged 16 or younger. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. Inflammation causes redness, swelling, warmth, and soreness in the joints, although many children with JRA do not complain of joint pain.
2024 September 6, David Zelman, “Understanding Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis -- the Basics”, in WebMDSynonyms: cryptogenic, essential, primary, agnogenic
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf, relating to, or designating a disease or condition having no known cause.
Origin
From idio- + -pathic. First appears c. 1669, in the publications of William Simpson.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian идиопатичен
- идиопатичен (idiopatičen)disease or condition having no known cause
Catalan idiopàtic
- idiopàticdisease or condition having no known cause
Chinese Mandarin 特發性 /特发性
- 特發性 /特发性 (tèfāxìng)disease or condition having no known cause
Czech esenciální
- esenciálnídisease or condition having no known cause
Finnish idiopaattinen
- idiopaattinendisease or condition having no known cause
French idiopathique
- idiopathiquedisease or condition having no known cause
German idiopathisch
- idiopathischdisease or condition having no known cause
Greek ιδιοπαθής
- ιδιοπαθής (idiopathís)disease or condition having no known cause
Hungarian idiopátiás
- idiopátiásdisease or condition having no known cause
Icelandic sjálfvakinn, frumkvilla-
- sjálfvakinndisease or condition having no known cause
- frumkvilla-disease or condition having no known cause
Indonesian idiopatik
- idiopatikdisease or condition having no known cause
Irish ideapatach
- ideapatachdisease or condition having no known cause
Italian idiopatico
- idiopaticodisease or condition having no known cause
Japanese 特発性
- 特発性 (tokuhatsusei)disease or condition having no known cause
Norwegian idiopatisk
- idiopatiskdisease or condition having no known cause
Polish idiopatyczny, idiopatyczna
- idiopatycznydisease or condition having no known cause
- idiopatycznadisease or condition having no known cause
- idiopatycznedisease or condition having no known cause
Portuguese idiopático
- idiopáticodisease or condition having no known cause
Romanian idiopatic
- idiopaticdisease or condition having no known cause
Russian идиопатический
- идиопатический (idiopatičeskij)disease or condition having no known cause
Spanish idiopático
- idiopáticodisease or condition having no known cause
Swedish idiopatisk, orsakslös
- idiopatiskdisease or condition having no known cause
- orsakslösdisease or condition having no known cause
Cite this entry
idiopathic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiopathic
“idiopathic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiopathic. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “idiopathic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiopathic.
Source: idiopathic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.