Antipathy is the antonym to the word “Sympathy“. Follow the link for a detailed study.

Antipathy roots in the Greek word “αντιπάθεια”, read “antipathia”. The original Greek word is a compound word made up of the preposition “αντί” and the word “pathos”.

“Αντί” freely translates to “opposing” or “reversed”, “on the other side”, etc. “Pathos” is the strong emotion that overpowers the individual.

In the English language, “antipathy” means “a deep-seated feeling of aversion“. In the old days, it used to mean “opposition in feeling”, which is now obsolete.

The original meaning of “antipathy” stemmed directly from the equally obsolete original meaning of the Greek word “αντιπάθεια”.  With time however, the word “πάθος” was limited to describing a strong positive feeling. In that sense, “αντιπάθεια”, or “antipathy” meant to have an equally strong emotion opposing that strong positive feeling, ie. to feel a deep seated aversion.

“Antipathy” was first used in the English language in 1592.