Passion Originally Meant Suffering
Passion is intense emotion. The Latin root means to suffer, which explains the Passion of Christ and even the passion fruit.
Passion now means intense enthusiasm or desire. Its Latin root *pati* means to suffer or undergo, which is why the Passion means Christ's suffering, why a *passion play* depicts it, and why *patient*, *passive* and *compassion* all belong to the same family. The passion fruit is named from the flower, which Spanish missionaries read as a diagram of the crucifixion.
- Intense emotion or enthusiasm. *A passion for music.*
- Strong sexual love. *A story of passion.*
- The suffering of Christ. *The Passion according to St Matthew.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | passion | A lifelong passion. |
| Plural | passions | Passions ran high. |
| Adjective | passionate | A passionate defence. |
| Adverb | passionately | He argued passionately. |
| Opposite | dispassionate | A dispassionate review. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Cooking is her passion.An enthusiasm.
- Passions ran high at the meeting.Plural for strong feelings in a group.
- Bach's St John Passion tells the story in music.The religious sense.
The suffering family
- Passion — strong feeling, originally suffering
- Patient — one who undergoes, or the quality of enduring
- Passive — undergoing rather than acting
- Compassion — suffering with someone
- Passion flower — named for its supposed crucifixion symbols
From Latin *passionem*, suffering, from *pati*, to suffer or endure. The shift from suffering to enthusiasm happened through the sense of being acted upon by a powerful feeling.
Why is passion fruit called that?
From the passion flower, which sixteenth-century missionaries in South America read as a symbolic representation of the crucifixion.
Are passion and patient related?
Yes. Both come from Latin *pati*, to suffer or undergo. A patient is literally one who suffers.