A word for “able to cause empathy or sympathy”? Sympathizable?

Question

I feel like there's a word that's buried in my head that's refusing to answer my calls, that means to "elicit empathy".

Any help would be appreciated. It might be a word that doesn't have the word "able" in it. Something like "poor", but without the connotation of being depraved. The best I can come up with is "relatable".

Answer 1

Sympathetic is the first word that comes to mind: it can mean both feeling sympathy and causing sympathy. Here are the two relevant definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary:

Tending to elicit sympathy or to induce a feeling of rapport; also loosely, pleasant, likeable. (Example: 1900 Beerbohm in Sat. Rev. 10 Mar. 295/2 "The true Don Juan‥is‥not a ‘sympathetic’ part.")

Feeling or susceptible of sympathy; sharing or affected by the feelings of another or others; having a fellow-feeling; sympathizing, compassionate. (Example: 1867 Dickens Let. 6 Mar. (1999) XI. 327 "An unusually tender and sympathetic audience.")

Answer 2

Perhaps

piteous evoking or deserving pity; pathetic

or

pitiable evoking or deserving pity; lamentable

Definitions are from dictionary.com.