Will the word 'schadenfreude' be understood in an English text?

Question

In the context of a creative work, can I use the word 'schadenfreude'? For example:

I experienced immense schadenfreude when my friend slipped on a banana peel.

Will it be understood by a general audience (perhaps not children, but the majority of adults)? If there is no equivalent word in English, is it acceptable to use words from other languages, or would the phrase be significantly better understood with the use of an English definition? Such as:

I experienced immense pleasure in the misfortune of others when my friend slipped on a banana peel.

To me, this is rather inelegant compared to the first.

Answer 1

No.

The question specifically asks whether the general readership will understand it.

"the majority of adults"

The answers claiming "yes" have given no evidence of general adoption. They have only shown that the word has entered the lexicon. The NGram offered in another answer shows miniscule usage.

Unfortunately, proving what the "general" readership will understand is a rather difficult task to do precisely, so this answer can be cut down for "lack of research", but to try to counter that, I asked the first ten people I met in my work day - and I work in a well educated space. Only one of them knew. That doesn't seem "general" to me. It's certainly not the majority of adults in that small sample space.

I suspect that the answers in the positive come from people who knew. Unsuprisingly, readers of this stack exchange have good vocabulary, and it is common to think of ourselves as typical, hence extrapolate our understanding of a word to "general understanding".

Answer 2

Yes, it is used in English and its usage has increased considerably in recent decades (see Ngram):

Schadenfreude:

• enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.

(M-W)

The German loanword schadenfreude is a recent addition to the English language, but its meaning is so simple and its concept so universal that it’s probably going to stay. Plus, there is no corresponding English word. Simply defined, schadenfreude is pleasure derived from others’ misfortune. It is most often used in reference to the misfortunes of someone who is privileged or has been exceptionally fortunate in the past, but it doesn’t have to be used this way.

Like most newly arrived loanwords, schadenfreude is often italicized, and many writers still feel the need to define it or introduce it by remarking how funny it is that Germans actually have a word for this—for example:

• Only if you are afflicted with schadenfreude—that is, if you yield to the temptation to take pleasure in the troubles of others—will you be pleased to know that every penny of that $180 million is now in jeopardy. [Chicago Reader]

(The Grammarist)

Etymology:

• "malicious joy in the misfortunes of others," 1922, German Schadenfreude, literally "damage-joy," from schaden "damage, harm, injury" (see scathe) + freude, from Old High German frewida "joy," from fro "happy," literally "hopping for joy," from Proto-Germanic *frawa- (see frolic).
  • What a fearful thing is it that any language should have a word expressive of the pleasure which men feel at the calamities of others; for the existence of the word bears testimony to the existence of the thing. And yet in more than one such a word is found. ... In the Greek epikhairekakia, in the German, 'Schadenfreude.' [Richard C. Trench, "On the Study of Words," 1852]

(Etymonline)

From A Joyful & Malicious History Of ‘Schadenfreude’ by Jane Hu

In an interview with Martha Stewart shortly before her 2003 indictment, Jeffrey Toobin asked the visibly exhausted celebrity if she felt herself the victim of “schadenfreude.” He didn’t expand upon the Germanism, and Stewart certainly didn’t need it defined.

• Schadenfreude? I asked. “That’s the word,” she said. “I hear that, like, every day.” And she added, in her precise way, “Do you know how to spell it?”

While spelling the thing might be an issue, writers assume nowadays that when they say “schadenfreude,” readers know exactly what they mean.

It’s defined as the “malicious enjoyment of the misfortunes of others” in the OED, which first included the word in 1982. The online OED traces key appearances of “schadenfreude” in English publications, the earliest of which is found in philologist Richard Chenevix Trench’s 1852 meditation on language, Study of Words.

Answer 3

Your question has a couple of parts:

Will it be understood by a general audience (perhaps not children, but the majority of adults)?

The, mostly anacdotal evidence here suggests not.

If there is no equivalent word in English, is it acceptable to use words from other languages

I would suggest either "sadistic pleasure", "guilty glee" or smugness as roughly equivalent phrases or words that are not to clumsy but provide much of the same meaning. However, English has always been a language with many loan words from other languages and I would judge that many of those have been introduced through works of fiction or other creative works.

and

would the phrase be significantly better understood with the use of an English definition?

I wouldn't go for a formal definition but possibly as an aside such as:

"I experienced immense schadenfreude, (as a German would describe my somewhat sadistic pleasure), when my, usually so graceful, friend slipped on a banana peel."

Answer 4

No, it would not be understood by the majority of English-speaking adults. While the word shows growth, it's still essentially 0% usage. Compare with a "trending" word like "incredulous" to see how rare it is.

Additionally, "schadenfreude" would likely be perceived as haughty and unnecessary in all but the most formal literature, at least in the US.

Edit: I took an informal survey of 16 college graduates working at an educational institution. Three had heard of the word but didn't know what the word was and three heard of the word and knew roughly the definition. So, 19% knew the word and additional 19% had heard of that word, so 81% of those polled didn't know the word. Interestingly, all of the people that heard of the word or knew its definition worked in IT (eight people were in IT or 63% didn't know it). No one on the instructional side was familiar with the word.

Answer 5

I believe that schadenfreude would be understood by most native English speakers. Miriam Webster include it, and describe it as originating in German. Wikipedia describe it as an English word, borrowed from German. We could argue about whether it is truly an English word, but there's no doubt in my mind that most native English speakers will understand it.

But having said all that, that doesn't necessarily make schadenfreude the right word to use.

Because you are explicitly explaining the cause of pleasure in the sentence, you don't need to use the $10 word.

You could simply say:

I experienced immense pleasure when my friend slipped on a banana peel.

And having said that, schadenfreude isn't necessarily the wrong word to use. There is the issue of character voice to consider.

You've said that this is a creative novel. Is this the sort of character who would use words like schadenfreude? If so, use that word. If not, use whatever word your character would use. Be true to your story, and trust your reader to follow where your characters lead.