'Sensitive' was coined for Aristotelian philosophy — the 'sensitive soul' capable of animal sensation.
Quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences; easily offended or hurt; requiring careful or tactful treatment; relating to the senses or sensation.
From Medieval Latin 'sensitivus' (capable of feeling), from Latin 'sensus' (feeling, sense), past participle of 'sentīre' (to feel, to perceive). The PIE root is *sent- (to head for, to go, to feel one's way), which in Latin concentrated into the domain of sensory and emotional experience. 'Sensitive' as an English adjective appears in the 14th century in philosophical texts discussing the powers
The botanical genus 'Mimosa' gets its common name 'sensitive plant' from the way Mimosa pudica rapidly folds its leaves when touched. This usage dates to the seventeenth century and was one of the earliest applications of 'sensitive' to non-animal organisms, raising philosophical questions about whether plants could 'feel' — questions that modern plant biology has revisited with findings about plant signaling and response.