empathy
Definitions
The ability to understand and share another person's feelings as if they were your own
同理心；共情；感同身受的能力
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedem- (into) + path (feeling) = 'feeling into' someone. The prefix em- is the key: instead of feeling sorry *for* a person from outside, you project yourself *into* their experience and feel it as they do.
Root path still carries 58 more wordsWhy It Means This
Empathy is a surprisingly modern word — coined in the early 1900s to translate German Einfühlung ('in-feeling'), first for how viewers project themselves into a work of art, then borrowed by psychology. That's why it sounds more clinical than the ancient sympathy: it was built on purpose to name the specific act of stepping inside someone else's mind.
Example Sentences
- 1.
Good nurses combine medical skill with genuine empathy for their patients.
- 2.
It takes empathy to see the situation through a child's eyes.
- 3.
Years of hardship gave her a deep empathy for the homeless.
Easily Confused
empathy vs sympathy — Empathy means feeling with someone, imagining their experience from the inside. Sympathy means feeling for someone, sorry for them from the outside. Therapists aim for empathy; condolence cards offer sympathy.