"characterized by apathy," 1744, apathetick, from apathy + -ic, on model of pathetic.
Entries linking to apathetic
apathy n.
c. 1600, "freedom from suffering, passionless existence," from French apathie (16c.), from Latin apathia, from Greek apatheia "freedom from suffering, impassibility, want of sensation," from apathēs "without feeling, without suffering or having suffered," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + pathos "emotion, feeling, suffering" (from PIE root *kwent(h)- "to suffer"). Originally a positive quality; the sense of "indolence of mind, indifference to what should excite" is by 1733.
-ic
Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).
In Middle English and after often spelled -ick, -ike, -ique. Variant forms in -ick (critick, ethick) were common in early Modern English and survived in English dictionaries into early 19c. This spelling was supported by Johnson but opposed by Webster, who prevailed.