English → Latin
“compassion” in Latin
misericordiapity, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness, tenderness, heartedness; wretchedness, misery; pathosmiserātiōpity, compassion, commiserationpermoveōto move, shake up or stir up thoroughly, agitate; to move deeply; stir or rouse up, overrule, excite, arouse; upset; infaddūcōto lead, bring, draw or convey to or to oneself; to prompt, induce, cause; to persuade, movealliciōto entice, lure or attract; to win over; to obtain, gain, capture
The English word compassion itself goes back to Latin patior, through compassio.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
compassion
misericordia (pity or feeling of sympathy for the unmerited misery of others, Vid: Cic., Tusc: 4, 8, 18, misericordia est aegritudo ex miseria alterius injuria laborantis): miseratio (act of pitying): for or out of compassion, propter misericordiam; misericordia captus or permotus (seized or moved by compassion): to excite compassion, misericordiam or miserationem commovere: it deserves or excites some compassion, habet aliquid misericordiam: to excite compassion. in anybody, or anybody’s compassion, aliquem ad misericordiam vocare or adducere or allicere; alicujus mentem ad misericordiam revocare; misericordiam alicui concitare, or alicujus misericordiam concitare (to excite anybody’s compassion); misericordia flectere aliquem (to cause anybody to desist from anything by exciting his compassion): mentem alicujus miseratione permovere (to move anybody by exciting his compassion, e.g., the judge on the part of the advocate): to endeavour to excite anybody’s compassion, misericordiam alicujus captare: to implore anybody’s compassion, misericordiam alicujus requirere et efflagitare, or implorare et exposcere: to fly to anybody’s compassion, ad misericordiam alicujus confugere: to be moved, seized by compassion, misericordia moveri or commoveri or permoveri or capi: to be full of compassion, misericordia frangi: to have compassion upon anybody, misericordiam alicui tribuere, impertire: to have (feel) compassion, misericordem esse (to have a compassionate heart): se misericordem praebere (to show one’s self compassionate in a single instance); misericordia moveri, capi; to have, feel compassion for anybody, misereri (in later writers also commisereri) alicujus; miseret me alicujus; tenet me misericordia alicujus (different from miserari and commiserari aliquid, i. e., to display one’s compassion by words; lament, regret): I have compassion on thee (pity thee), thou hast compassion on me (pitiest me), miseret me tui, miseret te mei: to feel compassion for anything, e.g., for anybody’s fate, misericordiam alicujus fortunis adhibere; alicujus casum or fortunam miserari or commiserari (by displaying it aloud; Vid: the preceding instance): to have (feel) no compassion, misericordiam non recipere: to live on the compassion of others, aliena misericordia vivere: tear of compassion, misericordiae lacrima; worthy of compassion, miserandus: commiserandus. miseratione dignus (of persons and things. ☞ miserabilis, in this signification, does not occur in the prose of the Golden Age): dolendus, lugendus (of things only. All in the sense of deserving compassion).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for compassion?
- The usual Latin words for “compassion” are misericordia, miserātiō, permoveō; also addūcō, alliciō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.