Beautiful German Words
SHAH-den-froy-de
The guilty little pleasure so universal that English gave up and borrowed the German word.
What it means
Schadenfreude is the joy you feel at someone else’s (usually minor) misfortune — the smirk when a show-off slips on the ice. It is Schaden (harm) + Freude (joy): literally “harm-joy.”
English has no native word for it, which is exactly why it adopted Schadenfreude whole. It is not cruelty — just that small, human, slightly shameful satisfaction we all know but rarely admit.
In real sentences
That’s pure schadenfreude!
I could barely hide my glee.
Word family
Freude (joy) shows up everywhere warm in German: Vorfreude (the joy of anticipation), Lebensfreude (joy of life). Schadenfreude is their mischievous cousin.
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