Swedish has a word, skadeglädje, which means the same as the German schadenfreude. English also uses the word schadenfreude:
I always thought this was because English did not have an equivalent word. But it seems there is one, with Greek roots:
I am surmising we use schadenfreude because Anglo-Saxon words are more direct than their Greek and Latin counterparts. Schadenfreude also sounds better, I think!


I agree. Schadenfreude sounds better, but I always thought it was “enjoying someone else’s well deserved bad fortune.” For example, if you fall and someone laughs, then they fall, and you enjoy their well deserved bad fortune.