Schadenfreude Schadenfreude

· from German

What does Schadenfreude mean?

Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from someone else's misfortune.

From German Schaden (harm) and Freude (joy), it has been borrowed into English and many other languages. Chinese has a close equivalent, 幸災樂禍 (幸灾乐祸) xìng zāi lè huò, a chengyu meaning to delight in calamity. Japanese internet slang uses メシウマ meshiuma (food tastes good) for the same feeling.

Examples

幸災樂禍 xìng zāi lè huò (rejoice in others' disaster); メシウマ meshiuma (someone else's misfortune makes my rice taste good); Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude (German saying)

Kungfucius says: Watching your rival misread a tone. Schadenfreude, or 幸災樂禍 if you are fluent.