Meanings
nounschadenfreude (usually uncountable, plural schadenfreudes)
plural schadenfreudes
- uncountableusuallyMalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune; counterempathy.
But it is Schadenfreude, a mischievous delight in the misfortunes of others, which remains the worst trait in human nature.
1897, “Human Nature”, in Thomas Bailey Saunders, transl., The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer, translation of original by Arthur Schopenhauer1 more example
In a 2012 study, Dr. Chambliss and her colleagues examined freudenfreude and schadenfreude scores among college students, some of whom were experiencing mild depression and some who weren’t. Freudenfreude scores were higher, and schadenfreude scores were lower, among those who were not depressed.
2022 November 25, Juli Fraga, “The Opposite of Schadenfreude Is Freudenfreude. Here’s How to Cultivate It.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2023Synonyms: epicaricacy, lulz · Antonyms: confelicity, freudenfreude, naches, firgun
Synonyms & antonyms
nounMalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune; counterempathy.
Similar
Also see
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*skaþô
- Proto-West Germanic*skaþō
- Old High Germanskado
- Middle High Germanschade
- GermanSchaden
- Proto-Indo-European*prew-
- Proto-Germanic*frawaz
- Proto-Germanic*frawiþō
- Old High Germanfrewida
- Middle High Germanvröude
- GermanFreude
- GermanSchadenfreude
- Englishschadenfreude
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).
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans leedvermaak
- leedvermaakmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Ancient Greek ἐπιχαιρεκακία
- ἐπιχαιρεκακία (epikhairekakía)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Arabic شَمَاتَة
- شَمَاتَة (šamāta)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Bulgarian злора́дство
- злора́дство (zlorádstvo)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Chinese Cantonese 幸災樂禍 /幸灾乐祸
- 幸災樂禍 /幸灾乐祸 (hang⁶ zoi¹ lok⁶ wo⁶)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Chinese Mandarin 幸災樂禍 /幸灾乐祸
- 幸災樂禍 /幸灾乐祸 (xìngzāilèhuò)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Czech škodolibost
- škodolibostmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Danish skadefryd
- skadefrydmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Dutch leedvermaak, schadevreugde
- leedvermaakmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- schadevreugdemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Esperanto difektoĝojo
- difektoĝojomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Estonian kahjurõõm
- kahjurõõmmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Finnish vahingonilo
- vahingonilomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
French joie maligne, schadenfreude
- joie malignemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
German Schadenfreude
- Schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Greek χαιρεκακία
- χαιρεκακία (chairekakía)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Hebrew שִׂמְחָה לְאֵיד
- שִׂמְחָה לְאֵידmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Hindi शाडन्फ़्रॉएड
- शाडन्फ़्रॉएड (śāḍanfrŏeḍ)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Hungarian káröröm
- kárörömmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Icelandic þórðargleði, meinfýsni
- þórðargleðimalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- meinfýsnimalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Indonesian schadenfreude, senang melihat orang susah
- schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- senang melihat orang susahmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- susah melihat orang senangmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Italian gioia maligna, aticofilia
- gioia malignamalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- aticofiliamalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Japanese シャーデンフロイデ, 幸災楽禍
- シャーデンフロイデ (shādenfuroide)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- 幸災楽禍 (kōsairakuka)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- メシウマ (meshiuma)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- 他人の不幸は蜜の味 (tanin no fukō wa mitsu no aji)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Korean 쌤통, 샤덴프로이데
- 쌤통 (ssaemtong)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- 샤덴프로이데 (syadenpeuroide)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- 고소하다 (gosohada)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Norwegian Bokmål skadefryd
- skadefrydmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Polish Schadenfreude
- Schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Portuguese Schadenfreude, bem feito
- Schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- bem feitomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Russian злора́дство
- злора́дство (zlorádstvo)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Scottish Gaelic àgh-truaighe, àgh millteach
- àgh-truaighemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- àgh millteachmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- aighear-truaighemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Slovak škodoradosť
- škodoradosťmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Spanish alegría maligna, gozo morboso m satisfacción malévola
- alegría malignamalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- gozo morboso m satisfacción malévolamalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- gozamiento del mal ajenomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- epicaricacíamalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- regodeomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- schadenfreudemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- refocilaciónmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
- refocilomalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Swedish skadeglädje
- skadeglädjemalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Turkish şematet
- şematetmalicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Ukrainian зловті́ха
- зловті́ха (zlovtíxa)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Yiddish שאָדנפֿרייד
- שאָדנפֿרייד (shodnfreyd)malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
schadenfreuder (non-rhotic pronunciations)
Cite this entry
APA
schadenfreude. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/schadenfreude
MLA
“schadenfreude.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/schadenfreude. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “schadenfreude,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/schadenfreude.
Source: schadenfreude on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.