Variations of the word "Schadenfreude"

Question

Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortune of others.

Is there a word which means to take pleasure in the misfortune of another when previously that misfortune was inflicted on you by that other person?

I won't describe here (in public) the particular circumstances in which I find myself looking for such a word, instead please enjoy this example from Three Men In A Boat.

Rather an amusing thing happened while dressing that morning. I was very cold when I got back into the boat, and, in my hurry to get my shirt on, I accidentally jerked it into the water. It made me awfully wild, especially as George burst out laughing. I could not see anything to laugh at, and I told George so, and he only laughed the more. I never saw a man laugh so much. I quite lost my temper with him at last, and I pointed out to him what a drivelling maniac of an imbecile idiot he was; but he only roared the louder. And then, just as I was landing the shirt, I noticed that it was not my shirt at all, but George’s, which I had mistaken for mine; whereupon the humour of the thing struck me for the first time, and I began to laugh. And the more I looked from George’s wet shirt to George, roaring with laughter, the more I was amused, and I laughed so much that I had to let the shirt fall back into the water again.

@Bruno Almost, but in the quoted example no revenge is taken (until the shirt drops again) — Ed Guiness, Feb 02 '11 at 15:25
Schadenfreude is a German word. It is used among English speakers mainly out of amusement that the Germans would bother to make a word for such a thing. If you are looking for similar words, you really should be asking German speakers (deutch.stackexchage.com ?) — T.E.D., Aug 19 '11 at 13:29

Colin Fine · Answer 1 · 2011-02-06T20:15:14.763

8

I can't think if a phrase for the feeling, but

"just deserts" is used to describe what the other person is felt to receive; and
"poetic justice" may describe the circumstances: the fact that they do receive their just deserts.

edited Feb 06 '11 at 20:15

answered Feb 02 '11 at 14:49

Colin Fine

77,173

2

@Jasper Great point. Here I've always thought the derivation of the word was the same as dessert but evidently that word comes from the French desservir "to clear the table" whereas desert in the sense of punishment/reward comes from Old French deservir "to deserve" – ghoppe Feb 02 '11 at 16:03
@Jasper - yes, of course I did. Thank you. I'll edit it. – Colin Fine Feb 06 '11 at 20:14
1

@Jasper: Amusingly, if you search Google for just deserts, it suggests "Did you mean: just desserts." This may be as much of a lost cause as begging the question. – Feb 06 '11 at 22:00
@Jasper: you learn something new every day – wfaulk Aug 19 '11 at 13:35
"Just deserts" or "just desserts" – Callithumpian Jan 13 '12 at 01:01

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 02 '11 at 23:52

4

I believe the most appropriate term for that situation is that one is feeling revenged.

answered Feb 02 '11 at 23:52

chaos

19,612

2

Did you mean avenged? I've never heard of 'revenged' as the adjective. – Mitch Sep 28 '11 at 18:21
@Mitch: No. Avenged has several inapplicable implications. I don't know what to tell you about the fact that you haven't seen revenged in this usage other than "sooner or later you will". – chaos Sep 28 '11 at 22:58

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 13 '12 at 00:13

4

We have a Japanese popular saying, 'the other's agony (trouble) is my own pleasure,' which I think exactly fits to the word shadenfreude. We also have another Japanese proverb, 'Misfortune (unhappiness) of others tastes (sweet) like honey'.

edited Jan 13 '12 at 00:13

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered Feb 11 '11 at 11:57

Yoichi Oishi

70,211

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 04 '11 at 12:35

2

How about gloat or gloating?

answered Feb 04 '11 at 12:35

Grewe Kokkor

786

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 06 '12 at 09:45

2

Gloating is nice, and variations on malicious glee always struck me as pretty.

edited Dec 06 '12 at 09:45

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered Dec 06 '12 at 08:21

malgreen

21

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 12 '16 at 19:47

0

One word that is coming to me is spite.

petty ill will or hatred with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart

[MW]

edited Dec 12 '16 at 19:47

jimm101

10,753

answered Dec 12 '16 at 12:03

Saurabh Shrivastava

1

Can you provide a link please, and make sure the quote from MW is exact. – jimm101 Dec 12 '16 at 12:26
@jimm101 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spite – Saurabh Shrivastava Dec 12 '16 at 19:45

Variations of the word "Schadenfreude"

6 Answers6

Linked