Compassion | Compassion meaning
Thefirstrecordsofthewordcompassioncomefromthe1300s.ItcomesfromtheLateLatincompassiō,meaning“fellowfeeling,”fromcompatī,“tosufferwith.”Compassionandsympathyaresometimesusedtomeanthesamething,andtheirrootsmeanthesamethings,too.Thepathyinsympathyandthepassionincompassionarebothrootedinwordsthatmean“tosuffer,”andthecom-andsym-atthebeginningofeachwordbothmean“with.”Compassionmayinvolvesharinginsomeone’ssuffering,butthewordmostcommonlyreferstoadesiretoendthatsufferingbyhelpinginsomeway.It’softenas...
The first records of the word compassion come from the 1300s. It comes from the Late Latin compassiō, meaning “fellow feeling,” from compatī, “to suffer with.” Compassion and sympathy are sometimes used to mean the same thing, and their roots mean the same things, too. The pathy in sympathy and the passion in compassion are both rooted in words that mean “to suffer,” and the com- and sym- at the beginning of each word both mean “with.”
Compassion may involve sharing in someone’s suffering, but the word most commonly refers to a desire to end that suffering by helping in some way. It’s often associated with other words related to caring about people, such as kindness and empathy[1].
The phrase compassion fatigue[2] refers to a kind of burnout[3] that can result from constantly having to care for others or from being frequently faced with things intended to produce compassion, such as frequent requests for charitable donations.
References empathy (www.dictionary.com)...