pathogenesis

The medical term pathogenesis means the source of a disease. Your doctor might guess that the pathogenesis of your ear infection was a bad cold that caused congestion and swelling.

If you ask your doctor, "How did I get chickenpox?" you're asking about the pathogenesis of an illness that gave you an itchy rash and a high fever. The word stems from the Greek pathos, "suffering or disease," and genesis, "origin." In medical terms, pathogenesis lays out the biological progression of a disease from its origin to the symptoms it caused that sent you to your doctor's office.