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12 June 2007

WWFTD: Epicaricacy

Epicaricacy(!)

/ep'-i-kar-IK-i-see/?
taking pleasure in others' misfortune: schadenfreude

this word, as defined in Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of
Unusual... Words, has caused a lot of discussion
recently on a couple of forums that discuss these
sorts of things. where in the world did she find
this English word for a concept that isn't supposed
to have a word in English (schadenfreude being German
in origin)? this question has yet to be answered in
full, but I can quote you this from Nathan Bailey's
An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, which
is a very olde dictionary indeed (1721):

Epicharikaky - from the Greek words or roots for
"upon", "joy", and "evil": "A Joy at the Misfortunes
of others".

..via WWFTD

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