sympathy

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathia, from Ancient Greek συμπάθεια (sumpatheia), from σύν (sun, “with, together”) + πάθος (pathos, “suffering”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɪmpəθi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

sympathy (plural sympathies)

1. A feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another; compassion.
2. The ability to share the feelings of another;
3. A mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.
   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; ISBN 1840460865)

     'Sympathy' likened anything to anything else in universal attraction, e.g. the fate of men to the course of the planets.

Antonyms

• contempt

Derived terms

• sympathectomy
• sympathetic
• sympathise

Related terms

• empathy

Translations

feeling of pity or sorrow for the suffering or distress of another

• Arabic: تعاطف (ar) (ta3aaTuf) m, عطف (ar) (3aTf) m, حنو (ar) (Hunuu) m
• Catalan: compassió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同情 (cmn) (tóngqíng), 同感 (cmn) (tónggǎn)

• Czech: soustrast (cs) f, soucit (cs) m
• Finnish: myötätunto (fi), osanotto (fi), sympatia (fi)
• French: compassion (fr) f, sympathie (fr) f, condoléance (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Mitleid (de) n, Mitgefühl (de) n
• Hebrew: אהדה (he) (Ahada) f, אהדה (he) (Ahada) f
• Hungarian: együttérzés (hu), részvét (hu), rokonszenv (hu)

• Italian: compassione (it) f
• Japanese: 同情 (ja) (どうじょう, dōjō)
• Maori: pukuaroha (mi)
• Polish: współczucie (pl) n
• Romanian: compasiune, compătimire, simpatie (ro)
• Russian: сочувствие (ru) (sočústvije) n (first "в" is silent), сострадание (ru) (sostradánije) n
• Serbo-Croatian: saosećaj (sh) m
• Spanish: compasión (es)
• Turkish: sempati (tr)

ability to share the feelings of another; empathy

• Albanian: keqardhje (sq) f
• Catalan: empatia (ca) f
• Esperanto: simpatio
• Finnish: myötäeläminen, empatia
• French: sympathie (fr) f
• German: Sympathie (de) f

• Hungarian: együttérzés (hu)
• Italian: empatia (it) f
• Japanese: 共感 (ja) (kyōkan), 共鳴 (ja) (kyōmē), 交感 (ja) (kōkan)
• Romanian: empatie (ro) f
• Russian: сочувствие (ru) (sočústvije) n
• Spanish: empatía (es) f

mutual relationship

• Catalan: simpatia (ca) f
• French: sympathie (fr) f
• German: Sympathie (de) f

• Polish: sympatia (pl) f
• Russian: симпатия (ru) (simpátija) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: تعاطف (taʕāṭafa)
• Dutch: medelijden
• Greek: συμπάθεια (simbáthia)
• Korean: 동정 (dongjeong)

• Portuguese: compaixão f, simpatia f, afinidade f
• Spanish: compasión f
• Swedish: medkänsla
• Telugu: సానుభూతి (saanubhooti)