Meanings
nounempathy (countable and uncountable, plural empathies)
plural empathies
- countableuncountableIdentification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
She had a lot of empathy for her neighbor; she knew what it was like to lose a parent too.
2 more examples
Like your body's in the room but you're not really there / Like you have empathy inside but you don't really care / Like you're fresh outta love but it's been in the air / Am I past repair?
2022 January 28, Em Beihold, Nick Lopez, Dru DeCaro, “Numb Little Bug”, in Egg in the Backseat, performed by Em BeiholdWhile Musk said he believes in empathy and that “you should care about other people,” he also thinks it’s destroying society.
2025 March 5, Zachary B. Wolf, “Elon Musk wants to save Western civilization from empathy”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2025Synonyms: fellow feeling
- countableuncountableThe capacity to understand another person's point of view or the result of such understanding.
- countableuncountableliteratureA paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounIdentification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
Similar
nounMDMA.
Similar
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
- Ancient Greekἐν (en)
- Ancient Greekπάσχω (páskhō)
- Ancient Greekπάθος (páthos)
- Ancient Greekἐμπαθής (empathḗs)
- Ancient Greekἐμπάθεια (empátheia)
- GermanEinfühlung
- Englishempathy
A 20th-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), equivalent to em- + -pathy, coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. The modern word in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.
More words from Ancient Greek, German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَعَاطُف
- تَعَاطُف (taʕāṭuf)intellectual identification with another person
Bulgarian съприча́стие, съчу́вствие
- съприча́стие (săpričástie)intellectual identification with another person
- съчу́вствие (săčúvstvie)intellectual identification with another person
- емпа́тия (empátija)intellectual identification with another person
Catalan empatia, empatia
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- empatiacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Chinese Mandarin 移情, 同感
- 移情 (yíqíng)intellectual identification with another person
- 同感 (tónggǎn)intellectual identification with another person
- 移情 (yíqíng)capacity to understand another person's point of view
- 同感 (tónggǎn)capacity to understand another person's point of view
Czech empatie
- empatieintellectual identification with another person
Danish empati, indføling
- empatiintellectual identification with another person
- indfølingintellectual identification with another person
- empaticapacity to understand another person's point of view
Dutch inlevingsvermogen, empathie
- inlevingsvermogenintellectual identification with another person
- empathieintellectual identification with another person
Esperanto empatio
- empatiointellectual identification with another person
Finnish empatia, empatia
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- empatiacapacity to understand another person's point of view
French empathie
- empathieintellectual identification with another person
German Empathie, Einfühlung
- Empathieintellectual identification with another person
- Einfühlungintellectual identification with another person
- Einfühlungsvermögencapacity to understand another person's point of view
- Empathiecapacity to understand another person's point of view
Greek ενσυναίσθηση, κατανόηση
- ενσυναίσθηση (ensynaísthisi)intellectual identification with another person
- κατανόηση (katanóisi)capacity to understand another person's point of view
- συμπάθεια (sympátheia)capacity to understand another person's point of view
Hebrew אֶמְפַּתְיָה
- אֶמְפַּתְיָה (empátya)intellectual identification with another person
Hindi समानुभूति, सहानुभूति
- समानुभूति (samānubhūti)intellectual identification with another person
- सहानुभूति (sahānubhūti)capacity to understand another person's point of view
Hungarian empátia, beleérzés
- empátiaintellectual identification with another person
- beleérzésintellectual identification with another person
- beleérző képességintellectual identification with another person
Icelandic hluttekning
- hluttekningcapacity to understand another person's point of view
Indonesian empati
- empatiintellectual identification with another person
Italian empatia, empatia
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- empatiacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Japanese 共感
- 共感 (kyōkan)intellectual identification with another person
Korean 공감, 공감능력
- 공감 (gonggam)intellectual identification with another person
- 공감능력 (gonggam-neungnyeok)capacity to understand another person's point of view
Māori ngākau aroha, ngākau aroha
- ngākau arohaintellectual identification with another person
- ngākau arohacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Norwegian Bokmål empati
- empatiintellectual identification with another person
Persian همدلی
- همدلی (hamdeli)intellectual identification with another person
Polish empatia, empatia
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- empatiacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Portuguese empatia, empatia
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- empatiacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Romanian empatie, empatie
- empatieintellectual identification with another person
- empatiecapacity to understand another person's point of view
Russian сочу́вствие, эмпа́тия
- сочу́вствие (sočúvstvije)intellectual identification with another person
- эмпа́тия (empátija)intellectual identification with another person
- сопережива́ние (sopereživánije)intellectual identification with another person
- сочу́вствие (sočúvstvije)capacity to understand another person's point of view
- сопережива́ние (sopereživánije)capacity to understand another person's point of view
- эмпа́тия (empátija)capacity to understand another person's point of view
Scottish Gaelic co-fhaireachdainn, iochd
- co-fhaireachdainnintellectual identification with another person
- iochdintellectual identification with another person
- co-fhaireachdainncapacity to understand another person's point of view
- iochdcapacity to understand another person's point of view
Slovak empatia, vcítenie
- empatiaintellectual identification with another person
- vcítenieintellectual identification with another person
Spanish empatía, empatía
- empatíaintellectual identification with another person
- empatíacapacity to understand another person's point of view
Swedish empati, empati
- empatiintellectual identification with another person
- empaticapacity to understand another person's point of view
Turkish empati
- empatiintellectual identification with another person
Ukrainian співчуття́, емпа́тія
- співчуття́ (spivčuttjá)intellectual identification with another person
- емпа́тія (empátija)intellectual identification with another person
- співпережива́ння (spivperežyvánnja)intellectual identification with another person
Vietnamese thấu cảm, cộng cảm
- thấu cảmintellectual identification with another person
- cộng cảmcapacity to understand another person's point of view
Cite this entry
APA
empathy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empathy
MLA
“empathy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empathy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “empathy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/empathy.
Source: empathy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.