Meaning

noun an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion

noun sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)

noun a relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other

originBorrowed from Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathīa (“feeling in common”), from Ancient Greek σῠμπᾰ́θειᾰ (sŭmpắtheiă, “fellow feeling”), from σῠμπᾰθής (sŭmpăthḗs, “affected by like feelings; exerting mutual influence, interacting”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-y”, nominal suffix). Equivalent to sym- (“acting or considered together”) + -pathy (“feeling”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0