English Schadenfreude

Everyone always says that there’s no english equivalent of schadenfreude and I’ve always assumed, recklessly as it turns out, that since everyone always says this it might be true. Not so! Hats-off to Mr Ciaran J Breen of Celbridge, County Kildare for writing to the Irish Times to explain that:

But there is a one-word English equivalent. It is “epicaricacy” which means rejoicing at, taking fun in, or getting pleasure from the misfortune of others. The word is derived from the ancient Greek “epi” (meaning upon); “kharis” (meaning joy) and “kakos” (meaning evil).

The German language equivalent, Schadenfreude, is more commonly used as a loan word in English. – Yours, etc,.

I must say that this discovery has made for an unusually pleasant start to the day.