Standard Lemma guide

emotion

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/
  • Canada, General-American: /ɪˈmoʊ.ʃən/
  • Canada, General-American: /iˈmoʊ.ʃən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 M OW1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IY1 M OW2 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Movement; agitation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A reaction by a non-human organism with behavioral and physiological elements similar to a person's response.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

any strong feeling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: feeling

Narrower terms: conditioned emotional response, CER, conditioned emotion, anger, choler, ire, fear, fearfulness, fright, reverence, awe, veneration, anxiety, joy, joyousness, joyfulness, love, hate, hatred, emotional state, spirit

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1éǵh Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h1éǵhs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh1- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh1éyetider. Proto-Italic *moweō Latin moveō Latin ēmoveō Vulgar Latin *exmovēre Old French esmovoir Middle French esmouvoir Middle French emotionbor. English emotion Borrowed from Middle French emotion (modern French émotion), from émouvoir (“excite”), based on Latin ēmōtus, past participle of ēmoveō (“to move out, move away, remove, stir up, irritate”), from ē- (“out”) (variant of ex-), and moveō (“move”).

Across languages

Translations

135 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: emosie — person's internal state of being
  • Albanian: ndjenjë — person's internal state of being
  • Albanian: emocion — person's internal state of being
  • Amharic: ስሜት (səmet) — person's internal state of being
  • Arabic: عَاطِفَة (ʕāṭifa) — person's internal state of being
  • Arabic: عَوَاطِف (ʕawāṭif) — person's internal state of being
  • Arabic: إِحْسَاس (ʔiḥsās) — person's internal state of being
  • Armenian: զգացմունք (zgacʻmunkʻ) — person's internal state of being
  • Armenian: հույզ (huyz) — person's internal state of being
  • Asturian: emoción — person's internal state of being
  • Azerbaijani: emosiya — person's internal state of being
  • Azerbaijani: duyğu — person's internal state of being
  • Belarusian: эмо́цыя (emócyja) — person's internal state of being
  • Belarusian: пачуццё (pačuccjó) — person's internal state of being
  • Belarusian: пачуцьцё (pačucʹcjó) — person's internal state of being
  • Bengali: অনুভূতি (onubhuti) — person's internal state of being
  • Breton: santad — person's internal state of being
  • Bulgarian: чу́вство (čúvstvo) — person's internal state of being
  • Bulgarian: емо́ция (emócija) — person's internal state of being
  • Burmese: စိတ်ရှုတ်ခြင်း (cithruthkrang:) — person's internal state of being
  • Catalan: emoció — person's internal state of being
  • Literary Chinese: 情 (qíng) — person's internal state of being
  • Literary Chinese: 感 (gǎn) — person's internal state of being
  • Chinese Mandarin: 感情 (gǎnqíng) — person's internal state of being
  • Chinese Mandarin: 情感 (qínggǎn) — person's internal state of being
  • Coptic: ϫⲟⲩϥ ⲛ̀ϩⲏⲧ (jouf ǹhēt) — person's internal state of being
  • Coptic: ⲁⲓⲥⲑⲏⲥⲓⲥ (aisthēsis) — person's internal state of being
  • Czech: emoce — person's internal state of being
  • Danish: følelse — person's internal state of being
  • Danish: emotion — person's internal state of being
  • Dutch: emotie — person's internal state of being
  • Esperanto: emocio — person's internal state of being
  • Estonian: emotsioon — person's internal state of being
  • Finnish: tunne — person's internal state of being
  • Finnish: tuntu — person's internal state of being
  • Finnish: tuntemus — person's internal state of being
  • French: émotion — person's internal state of being
  • Galician: emoción — person's internal state of being
  • Georgian: ემოცია (emocia) — person's internal state of being
  • German: Gefühl — person's internal state of being
  • German: Empfindung f Emotion — person's internal state of being
  • Greek: συναίσθημα (synaísthima) — person's internal state of being
  • Ancient Greek: πάθος (páthos) — person's internal state of being
  • Hebrew: רֶגֶשׁ (régesh) — person's internal state of being
  • Hindi: भावना (bhāvnā) — person's internal state of being
  • Hindi: जज़्बा (jazbā) — person's internal state of being
  • Hindi: एहसास (ehsās) — person's internal state of being
  • Hungarian: érzés — person's internal state of being
  • Hungarian: érzelem — person's internal state of being
  • Icelandic: geðshræring — person's internal state of being
  • Ido: emoco — person's internal state of being
  • Indonesian: emosi — person's internal state of being
  • Ingrian: cuvstva — person's internal state of being
  • Irish: mothúchán — person's internal state of being
  • Italian: emozione — person's internal state of being
  • Japanese: 感情 (kanjō) — person's internal state of being
  • Japanese: 心緒 (shinsho) — person's internal state of being
  • Kazakh: эмоция (émosiä) — person's internal state of being
  • Kazakh: сезім (sezım) — person's internal state of being
  • Khmer: អារម្មណ៍ (ʼaarɑm) — person's internal state of being
  • Korean: 감정 (gamjeong) — person's internal state of being
  • Northern Kurdish: his — person's internal state of being
  • Kyrgyz: эмоция (emotsiya) — person's internal state of being
  • Lao: ອາລົມ (ʼā lom) — person's internal state of being
  • Latin: affectus — person's internal state of being
  • Latin: sensus — person's internal state of being
  • Latvian: emocija — person's internal state of being
  • Lithuanian: emocija — person's internal state of being
  • Macedonian: чувство (čuvstvo) — person's internal state of being
  • Macedonian: емо́ција (emócija) — person's internal state of being
  • Maltese: emozzjoni — person's internal state of being
  • Māori: panapana — person's internal state of being
  • Māori: kakare — person's internal state of being
  • Māori: aurongo — person's internal state of being
  • Middle English: talent — person's internal state of being
  • Mongolian: сэтгэлийн хөдөлгөөн (setgeliin xödölgöön) — person's internal state of being
  • Norwegian Bokmål: følelse — person's internal state of being
  • Norwegian Bokmål: emosjon — person's internal state of being
  • Pali: ārammaṇa — person's internal state of being
  • Pannonian Rusyn: емоция (emocija) — person's internal state of being
  • Pannonian Rusyn: чувство (čuvstvo) — person's internal state of being
  • Pashto: احساس (ehsās) — person's internal state of being
  • Iranian Persian: اِحْساس (ehsâs) — person's internal state of being
  • Iranian Persian: هَیَجان (hayajân) — person's internal state of being
  • Plautdietsch: Jefeel — person's internal state of being
  • Polish: emocja — person's internal state of being
  • Polish: uczucie — person's internal state of being
  • Portuguese: emoção — person's internal state of being
  • Romanian: emoție — person's internal state of being
  • Russian: эмо́ция (emócija) — person's internal state of being
  • Russian: чу́вство (čúvstvo) — person's internal state of being
  • Samogitian: emuocėjė — person's internal state of being
  • Scottish Gaelic: faireachdainn — person's internal state of being
  • Scottish Gaelic: reachd — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: осећај — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: чувство — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: емоција — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: osećaj — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: čuvstvo — person's internal state of being
  • Serbo-Croatian: emocija — person's internal state of being
  • Slovak: emócia — person's internal state of being
  • Slovene: čustvo — person's internal state of being
  • Spanish: afecto — person's internal state of being
  • Spanish: emoción — person's internal state of being
  • Swedish: känsla — person's internal state of being
  • Swedish: emotion — person's internal state of being
  • Tagalog: sandandam — person's internal state of being
  • Tagalog: emosyon — person's internal state of being
  • Tagalog: damdamin — person's internal state of being
  • Tajik: эҳсос (ehsos) — person's internal state of being
  • Tajik: кайфият (kayfiyat) — person's internal state of being
  • Tajik: ҳаяҷон (hayajon) — person's internal state of being
  • Tamil: உணர்வு (uṇarvu) — person's internal state of being
  • Tamil: உணர்ச்சி (uṇarcci) — person's internal state of being
  • Tatar: тойгы (toyğı) — person's internal state of being
  • Tatar: эмоция (emotsiyä) — person's internal state of being
  • Thai: อารมณ์ (aa-rom) — person's internal state of being
  • Tocharian B: eṅkäl — person's internal state of being
  • Turkish: duygu — person's internal state of being
  • Turkish: his — person's internal state of being
  • Turkmen: duýgy — person's internal state of being
  • Ukrainian: емо́ція (emócija) — person's internal state of being
  • Ukrainian: почуття́ (počuttjá) — person's internal state of being
  • Urdu: جَذْبَہ (jazba) — person's internal state of being
  • Urdu: اِحْساس (ihsās) — person's internal state of being
  • Uyghur: ھېسىيات (hësiyat) — person's internal state of being
  • Uyghur: تۇيغۇ (tuyghu) — person's internal state of being
  • Uyghur: كەيپىيات (keypiyat) — person's internal state of being
  • Uzbek: emotsiya — person's internal state of being
  • Uzbek: his — person's internal state of being
  • Uzbek: tuygʻu — person's internal state of being
  • Uzbek: hissiyot — person's internal state of being
  • Uzbek: kayfiyat — person's internal state of being
  • Vietnamese: cảm xúc — person's internal state of being
  • Welsh: emosiwn — person's internal state of being
Real reading context

emotion in complete knowledge articles