共感
きょうかん · kyoukan · JLPT N1 · noun
sympathy
共 (together) + 感 (feeling) = feeling together with someone
Also used for response or resonance: 共感を得る means to earn agreement or a favorable response. Read it as shared feeling, the root of sympathy.
共 — 两手 (廾) holding up an object
共 originally depicted two hands raised together, lifting or offering something jointly. The ancient form showed a vessel or object held up by paired hands, conveying shared action. From 'lifting together' it shifted to mean 'together,' 'common,' or 'share.'
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.