Empathy and sympathy
empathy, a noun.
the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
ORIGIN
early 20th cent.: from Greek empatheia
(from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’ ) translating German Einfühlung.
sympathy, a noun.
1) feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune:
they had great sympathy for the flood victims.
• ( one's sympathies) formal expression of such feelings; condolences
2) understanding between people; common feeling:
A special sympathy between the two boys was obvious to all.
• ( sympathies) support in the form of shared feelings or opinions.
• agreement with or approval of an opinion or aim; a favorable attitude.
• ( in sympathy) relating harmoniously to something else; in keeping.
• the state or fact of responding in a way similar or corresponding to an action elsewhere.
ORIGINlate 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek sumpatheia, from sumpathes, from sun- ‘with’ + pathos ‘feeling.’
