同情 (tóng qíng) — to sympathize with, to feel sympathy for | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

同情 (tóngqíng) means feeling sympathy for someone's situation, often their suffering or misfortune. Unlike 怜惜, which adds a sense of tender pity, 同情 is more neutral — you understand and share their feelings without necessarily acting on it.

verb

to sympathize withto feel sympathy for

Examples

同情。
Wǒ tóng qíng nà xiē yù dào kùn nan de rén.
I sympathize with those who face difficulties.
同情。
Tā fēi cháng tóng qíng wǒ de jué dìng.
She really sympathizes with my decision.
同情。
Dà jiā dōu tóng qíng tā de bú xìng.
Everyone sympathizes with his misfortune.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

情qíngfeeling

同 means same and 情 means feeling, so 同情 is sharing the same feeling.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

青

青qīng情qíng

Same sound today

情 shows 心 (heart) beside 青, which gives the sound. The heart part points to feelings and inner states.

Appears in

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