Chinese word

同情

Pronunciation

Pinyintóng qíng

Meaning

  • verbsympathize with

Example

我很同情他的处境。wǒ hěn tóng qíng tā de chǔ jìng

I really sympathize with his situation.

Illustration for 同情 (sympathize with)

More examples

看到照片，我很同情那些受灾的人。kàn dào zhào piān wǒ hěn tóng qíng nà xiē shòu zāi de rén

When I saw the photo, I really sympathized with those affected by the disaster.

Core concept

A movement of the heart toward another person's trouble, with both understanding and pity.

Common phrases

  • 对受害者同情duì shòu hài zhě tóng qíng

    sympathize with victims

  • 同情他tóng qíng tā

    sympathize with him

  • 同情弱者tóng qíng ruò zhě

    sympathize with the weak

Similar words

理解lí jiě: Understand what another person feels or is going through.
体谅tǐ liàng: Think about another person's situation and make allowances for them.
同感tóng gǎn: Have the same feeling as another person and support that feeling.

Definition in Chinese

对别人的遭遇或处境感到怜悯或共鸣。duì bié rén de zāo yù huò chǔ jìng gǎn dào lián mǐn huò gòng míng

Word origin

同情 (tóngqíng, "sympathy") joins 同 (tóng, "same") and 情 (qíng, "feeling"), so its form suggests feelings that meet between people.

Usage tips

  • 同情 (tóngqíng, "sympathy") functions as a verb in Chinese, while English usually uses "sympathy" as a noun or "sympathize with" as a verb.

Other meanings

  • pityverb
  • sympathynoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 同情心tóng qíng xīnsympathynoun

Word lists with this word