אמפתיה

Hebrew

Etymology

From English empathy, a twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), coined by Edward B. Titchener to translate German Einfühlung. The modern Greek word εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.

Noun

אֶמְפַּתְיָה • (empatiá) f (plural indefinite אֶמְפַּתְיוֹת, singular construct אֶמְפַּתְיַת־)

1. (countable and uncountable) empathy (intellectual identification of the thoughts, feelings, or state of another person)

Usage notes

Used similarly to סִימְפַּטְיָה (simpatiá, “sympathy”), interchangeably in looser usage. In stricter usage, אֶמְפַּתְיָה (empatiá) is stronger and more intimate, meaning that the subject understands and shares an emotion with the object – as in “I feel your pain” – while סִימְפַּטְיָה (simpatiá) is weaker and more distant – concern, but not shared emotion: “I care for you”.