Schadenfreude (
IPA: ) is a
German word meaning 'pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune'. It has been borrowed by the
English language and is sometimes also used as a
loanword by other languages.It derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy); Schaden derives from the
Middle High German schade, from the
Old High German scado, and freude comes from the Middle High German vreude, from the Old High German frewida, from frō, (happy). In
German, the word always carries a
negative connotation. A distinction exists between "secret schadenfreude" (a private feeling) and "open schadenfreude" (Hohn). Usually, it is stated that Schadenfreude has no direct
English equivalent. For example, Harper Collins German-English Dictionary translates schadenfreude as "malicious glee or
gloating." However, an apparent English equivalent is epicaricacy, derived from the
Greek word ἐπιχαιρεκακία, epichaerecacia. This word does not appear in most modern
dictionaries, but does appear in
Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary (
1727) under a slightly different spelling (epicharikaky), which gives its
etymology as a compound of epi (upon), chara (joy), and kakon (evil). A more common English equivalent than 'epicaricacy' might be the expression '
Roman holiday', which means pleasure derived from watching someone else's suffering, and is derived from the delight of
Roman citizens' at the gladiatorial spectacles in the
Colosseum. Another phrase with a meaning similar to Schadenfreude is "morose delectation" ("delectatio morosa" in
Latin), meaning "the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts". The medieval church taught morose delectation is a sin.
French writer
Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001) maintained that the appeal of
sadism is morose delectation.
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