A person who is gentle, kind, or easily moved to sympathy; someone who is not tough or hard.
From 'soft' plus the diminutive/pejorative suffix '-y', first appearing in late 1800s English as informal British slang for someone lacking toughness.
Interestingly, calling someone a 'softy' was originally an insult, but modern culture increasingly values 'soft' traits like empathy—the word now often carries positive connotations, showing shifting values.
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