Metaemotional

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A level of awareness regarding both personal emotions and those of others is achieved through introspection and social interaction
2. This concept involves understanding and reflecting on the emotions experienced by oneself in relation to the feelings of others
3. Having insight into both your own emotional states and the emotions of other people

Etymology: "Metaemotional" is a plain compound: the prefix "meta-", from Greek "metá" meaning "after," "beyond," or "with," attached to "emotional." In modern usage, "meta-" usually signals a level of reflection on the thing it modifies, as in "metalanguage," which is language about language. So a metaemotional response is one that looks at one's own emotions, and the feelings of others, from a step back. The "emotional" half has a longer and more physical past. It traces back through "emotion," borrowed into English from French, which descends from Latin "emovere," meaning "to move out" or "to stir up." That literal sense of agitation, of something being shifted from its place, is still present in the feeling-word that English took from it. The suffix "-al" was added in English, passing through Old French and Latin, to turn the noun into an adjective.