Sympathy is the feeling of care and understanding you have when someone else is sad or suffering. You may not feel exactly what they feel, but you feel sorry for them and want to help.
From Late Latin 'sympathia', from Greek 'sympatheia' meaning 'fellow feeling', from 'syn-' (together) and 'pathos' (feeling, suffering). It originally described shared emotions between people or even between people and the universe.
Sympathy is different from empathy: sympathy stands beside someone’s pain, while empathy tries to step inside it. Cultures build rituals—like condolence cards and funerals—just to give sympathy a shape and a voice.
“Sympathy” has been feminized in many cultures, with women expected to provide sympathy and care, often without recognition or compensation. Men’s expressions of sympathy have sometimes been stigmatized, reinforcing narrow gender norms about emotional expression.
Encourage expressions of sympathy across genders and avoid assuming that women will handle sympathy and care work by default.
["condolences","understanding","support","compassion"]
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