epicaricacy
Oct. 3rd, 2023 07:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordepicaricacy (ep-ee-KAER-ee-kuh-see) - (rare) n., rejoicing at or deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others.
A little-known synonym of schadenfreude, one that predates that German import by 170 years: it appears in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1721 (and all later editions), while schadenfreude arrived in the early 1890s. Adopted from Ancient Greek epikhairekakía, joy upon evil, from epikhaírō, I rejoice + kakós, evil/misfortune + -íā, nominalizing suffix.
---L.
A little-known synonym of schadenfreude, one that predates that German import by 170 years: it appears in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1721 (and all later editions), while schadenfreude arrived in the early 1890s. Adopted from Ancient Greek epikhairekakía, joy upon evil, from epikhaírō, I rejoice + kakós, evil/misfortune + -íā, nominalizing suffix.
---L.
