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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Empathic/empathetic
I learned as a child, and for some reason it stuck, empathic is the word and empathetic was just plain not a word. It seems that through improper usage the word has become acceptable and means the same thing. Redundant and unneccessary. Has annoyed me for some time.
Top answer
And? Is this just a rant, or did you want us to do something about it? Would its congener then rightfully be 'sympathic'?
- And?
- Is this just a rant, or did you want us to do something about it?
- Would its congener then rightfully be 'sympathic'?
- If it is a matter of 2 forms of adjective surviving with the same meaning, then there are certainly other examples (all of which slip my mind at the moment even though they occur repeatedly as points questioned here on our threads).
- According to my M-W, both are quite new words, actually, their citations being 1909 for 'empathic' and 1932 for 'empathetic'.
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2 Answers
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And? Is this just a rant, or did you want us to do something about it? Would its congener then rightfully be 'sympathic'?
If it is a matter of 2 forms of adjective surviving with the same meaning, then there are certainly other examples (all of which slip my mind at the moment even though they occur repeatedly as points questioned here on our threads).
According to my M-W, both
If it is a matter of 2 forms of adjective surviving with the same meaning, then there are certainly other examples (all of which slip my mind at the moment even though they occur repeatedly as points questioned here on our threads).
According to my M-W, both
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When has the English language ever blocked redundant words?! 
You are correct that empathic is the older "correct" term;
You are correct that empathic is the older "correct" term; 0
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