compassion

/kəmˈpæʃən/kuhm-PA-shuhn

Meaningsuffered with

Common meaning: pity

comwith, together; thoroughlySkeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (1911), p. 102 · scan
passionto undergo, put up withLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1314 · scan

‘with, together’ + ‘to undergo, put up with’ → compassion

Journey through time

com — Latin com- “with, together; thoroughly” (path traced)
passion — Latin patior, passus “to undergo, put up with” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as compassus.

Latincom- + pati‘with, together; thoroughly + to undergo, put up with’source
Latincompassussource
Old Frenchcompassionsource
Middle Englishcompassiounsource
Englishcompassion‘pity’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin compassus, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as com- ‘with, together; thoroughly’ + pati ‘to undergo, put up with’.

Roots

compassus Latin “suffered with”
patior, passus Latin “to undergo, put up with”

Related words

compass

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