Sympathy comes from the Greek syn, meaning with and pathos, or suffering. Compassion is from the Latin com, meaning with, and passus, to suffer. In other words, sympathy and compassion have exactly the same root, but in different languages.

What is the origin of the word sympathy?

Sympathy, constructed from the Greek sym, meaning "together," and pathos, referring to feelings or emotion, is used when one person shares the feelings of another, as when one experiences sadness when someone close is experiencing grief or loss.

Is sympathy a learned behavior?

Empathy is learned behavior even though the capacity for it is inborn. The best way to think about empathy is an innate capacity that needs to be developed, and to see it as a detail in a larger picture.