Meaning Of Empathy And Sympathy

Read on for more on the difference between sympathy and empathy and how you can practice being more.

Meaning of empathy and sympathy. In the english language we tend to make mistakes with the similar sounding words. Both words owe part of their existence to the word pathos which meant passion or suffering. Uncover definitions examples and even test questions.

In looking at the difference between sympathy and empathy you must first understand what they are. While you may feel sorry for a person or their situation in other words you sympathize with them that doesn t necessarily mean that you empathize with them. You can share or even understand the pain someone is going through without going through it yourself.

It goes beyond sympathy which is caring and understanding for the suffering of others both words are used similarly and often interchangeably incorrectly so but differ subtly in their emotional meaning. Difference between empathy and sympathy. Empathy is a newer word also related to pathos but there is a greater implication of emotional distance.

Add to this greek word different prefixes and you make up the two words empathy and sympathy. To understand the meanings of the words empathy and sympathy it is important to trace the origin of both these words. This doesn t mean however that you cannot use sympathy or sympathize to describe sharing or understanding the feelings of another the word sympathize is 300 years empathy s senior with this meaning.

Psychologists began using empathy as a translation for the german term einfühlung and the concept that a person could project their own feelings onto a viewed object. Especially when it comes to the understanding of the words empathy and sympathy actually both of these words relate to the expression of feelings. Sympathy constructed from the greek sym meaning together and pathos referring to feelings or emotion is used to describe when one person shares the same feelings of another such as when someone close is experiencing grief or loss.

Empathy is the ability to experience the feelings of another person. This post provides info about the differences usage meaning of empathy and sympathy in the sentences will give you a proper understanding of empathy vs sympathy.