Etymology

schadenfreude

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Today it means: Malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune; counterempathy. Full definition →

German Schadenfreude ← Middle High German vröude ← Old High German frewida
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*skaþô
  2. Proto-West Germanic*skaþō
  3. Old High Germanskado
  4. Middle High Germanschade
  5. GermanSchaden
  6. Proto-Indo-European*prew-
  7. Proto-Germanic*frawaz
  8. Proto-Germanic*frawiþō
  9. Old High Germanfrewida
  10. Middle High Germanvröude
  11. GermanFreude
  12. GermanSchadenfreude
  13. English todayschadenfreude

An unadapted borrowing from German Schadenfreude (“joy in the misfortune of others”), from Schaden (“damage, misfortune”) + Freude (“joy”). The word gained popularity in English in the late 20th c. and likely entered mainstream usage through an episode of The Simpsons (more in citations).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.