compersion

== English == === Etymology === Coined in the early 1990s by a group of members of the Kerista Commune, a polyamorous group based in San Francisco, California, U.S.A., in existence between 1956 and 1991, apparently randomly using an alphabet board (similar to a Ouija board), with -ion (suffix forming nouns). The hypothesis that the word is derived from French compère (“partner”) + English -sion (a variant of -tion (suffix forming nouns)), based on an earlier use of French compérage by the French anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009) to denote the practice of brothers-in-law sharing wives observed among Tupi people of the Brazilian Amazon, is less plausible: a website run by former members of the community states that neither the word compérage nor Lévi-Strauss’s work was known to them at the time, and the formation of the word in this way does not correspond to any known morphological process. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kəmˈpɜːʒn̩/, /-ʃn̩/ (General American) IPA(key): /kəmˈpɜɹʒən/, /-ʃən/ Homophone: compursion Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃən Hyphenation: com‧per‧sion === Noun === compersion (uncountable) (originally US, neologism) Vicarious joy associated with seeing one's partner have a joyful romantic or sexual relationship with another person. [from early 1990s] (originally US, neologism) The feeling of joy one has experiencing another's joy, such as in witnessing a toddler's joy and feeling joy in response. [from early 1990s] Antonyms: jealousy, possessiveness ==== Usage notes ==== Not to be confused with compursion (“a pursing, as of the lips”). ==== Derived terms ==== compersionism compersionist compersive (possible back-formation) ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === polyamory – compersion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia “compersion, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.