empathy
/ˈempəθi/·엠퍼시·noun
the ability to share another's feelings
GreekCEFR B2
Root
em- (into) + Greek 'pathos' (feeling)
Greek empatheia (passion, state of emotion) → German Einfühlung (1858) → English empathy (1909)
In a word
em- (into) + pathos (feeling) = 'feel one's way inside'. If sympathy is feeling-with, empathy is feeling-into. The English word arrived in 1909 as an art-criticism term — projecting oneself into a painting — and only later moved between people.
Examples
A good leader needs empathy.
She showed empathy by listening quietly.
Stories teach empathy from a young age.
Related
sympathypatheticapathypathologyempathetic