What does empathy mean?
Empathy is the capacity to understand and share the feelings of another person — to step, imaginatively, into their situation and experience it from their point of view. It differs from sympathy, which involves feeling pity or sorrow for someone without necessarily sharing their inner experience; empathy implies a deeper, more participatory connection. In psychology, the term is often divided into cognitive empathy (grasping what someone else thinks and feels) and affective empathy (actually resonating with those emotions). The word entered English only in the early twentieth century, adapted from German Einfühlung via the Greek root empatheia ('feeling into'), but the quality it describes has always been central to human relationships. Empathy carries warm, positive connotations: to call someone empathetic is to praise their emotional intelligence and compassion. It is frequently invoked in discussions of teaching, medicine, leadership, and literature, all fields that depend on understanding others.
nounThe ability to understand and share the feelings of another person by imaginatively entering into their experience.
- The capacity to understand and share another person's feelings and experiences as if they were one's own.
- (Psychology) The cognitive process of identifying with or vicariously experiencing another's emotions, thoughts, or attitudes.
"Her empathy for grieving families made her an exceptional counsellor."
"A good teacher shows genuine empathy for students struggling with difficult material."
"Reading literary fiction can strengthen empathy by letting us inhabit other lives."
Rarely used; the plural appears mostly in academic or philosophical writing referring to different types or instances of empathy.
"The study distinguished between several distinct empathies underlying moral judgement."
The word 'empathy' didn't enter English until the early 20th century — a German translation of Greek 'empatheia' — yet it names something humans have always done.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of empathy
Empathy comes from the Greek empatheia, formed from en- ('in') plus pathos ('feeling'), meaning literally 'feeling into'. The English word was coined in the early twentieth century as a translation of the German Einfühlung ('in-feeling'), a term used in aesthetics before being extended to interpersonal understanding by psychologists such as Edward Titchener around 1909. It shares its root pathos with words like sympathy, apathy, and pathetic.
Related word forms
How empathy is actually used
Empathy is a formal-to-neutral register word common in psychology, counselling, and everyday speech. It carries strongly positive connotations of emotional intelligence and kindness. In psychology it is sometimes subdivided into cognitive empathy (understanding another's mental state) and affective empathy (sharing their feelings), a distinction not usually made in casual use.
Easily confused with empathy
Sympathy is feeling sorrow or pity for someone's misfortune, while empathy is actually understanding or sharing their feelings from within their perspective.
Apathy means a complete lack of interest or concern, the opposite of the engaged emotional connection implied by empathy.