Schadenfreude (German) is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. The word derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy).
Can anybody think of an English word that describes this feeling? I love words borrowed from other languages when no English equivalent exists. Another, friendlier example is the Buddhist concept of mudita, “sympathetic joy” or “happiness in another’s good fortune.” It is sometimes cited as the opposite of schadenfreude.
Comments
5 responses to “Schadenfreude”
sadism maybe
good call, it’s close. I think sadism is a little more evil though.
Gloating
Don’t know if there is a word in English, there is one in Swedish: skadeglädje. I would say gloating isn’t …happy enough, if that makes sense. Gloating is, to me, that you are happy at someone else’s missfortune. Skadeglädje is more that someone else messes up, makes a fool of themselves , or have bad luck and that makes you laugh. We have a saying; that this is the only true joy 🙂
Perverse, spiteful, malignant, or sadistic?