Word of the day · 2 June 2026
empathy
/ˈɛmpəθi/
noun
The ability to understand and share another person’s feelings or point of view.
In a sentence
- Good listening showed more empathy than a quick pep talk.
- The nurse’s empathy helped the patient describe the pain clearly.
- Stories build empathy by placing you inside someone else’s day.
In an image
Origin
From Greek empatheia via German Einfühlung (“feeling into”), coined in aesthetics and later adopted in psychology; English empathy settled in the early 1900s.
History
Empathy began as a word for entering another’s experience in art and mind. It later split in popular talk from sympathy: sympathy often means pity or concern from outside, while empathy stresses understanding from inside the other person’s frame. Teachers, managers and caregivers search the word when they want that distinction. It remains a skill word as much as a feeling word.
Nearby words
compassion · sympathy · understanding
Feeling with someone, not only feeling sorry for them.