English
compassionate
Compassionate comes from French compassionner ‘to feel sorry for’, from compassion ‘compassion, pity’, and ultimately from Latin patior ‘suffer, endure’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpatior‘suffer, endure’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompatior‘to suffer with’
- Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500compassiō‘fellow suffering’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompassion‘compassion, pity’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompassionner‘to feel sorry for’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompassionnépast participle of compassionner
- Englishearliest quotation 1595compassionate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpatior‘suffer, endure’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompatior‘to suffer with’
- Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500compassiō‘fellow suffering’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompassion‘compassion, pity’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompassionner‘to feel sorry for’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompassionnépast participle of compassionner
- Englishearliest quotation 1595compassionate
Earliest quotation: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “It boots thee not to be compassionate: After our…”
Equivalent to compassion + -ate
Latin patior ‘to suffer’
Latin compati
Ecclesiastical Latin compassio ‘sympathy’
Old French compassion
Middle English compassioun
English compassion
The story
Pseudo-Latinism, derived from a pseudo-Latin form of French compassionné, past participle of compassionner (‘to feel sorry for’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pet-
through Latin patior ‘suffer, endure’
patient, patience, passion, compatible, compatibility, 7 more
Today it means
adj Having, feeling or showing compassion (to or toward someone).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin patior / compassionate