Schadenfreude (SHAH-den-froy-duh) is the feeling of pleasure or satisfaction you get from seeing someone else's troubles or failures. The word comes from German: schaden means “harm” and freude means “joy.”

You know that little spark of satisfaction when the student who always brags about never studying does poorly on a test? Or when the opposing team's star player who was taunting your team finally misses an easy shot? That's schadenfreude. It's not quite the same as being happy about good things happening to you. It's specifically about feeling good when something bad happens to someone else.

Schadenfreude often shows up in harmless ways: laughing when a cartoon villain's own trap backfires, or feeling secretly pleased when a show-off stumbles during their performance. Sometimes it appears in more troubling situations, like when people enjoy watching celebrities fail or take pleasure in a classmate's mistakes.

The word captures something most people experience but rarely admit to feeling. Recognizing schadenfreude in yourself doesn't make you a bad person. Understanding schadenfreude can also help you understand your feelings better.