epicaricacy

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐπιχαιρεκακία (epikhairekakía, “joy upon evil”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌɛpɪˈkæɹɪkəsi/
  • (file)

Noun

epicaricacy (uncountable)

  1. (rare) Rejoicing at or deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others.

Usage notes
  • The word appears in most of the editions of Nathaniel Bailey's dictionary. Bailey's dictionary was highly respected, was published and republished for about 50 years starting in 1721, and was Samuel Johnson's basic word-list from which he prepared his dictionary, acknowledged to be the master. Linguist Joseph T. Shipley included it in his Dictionary of Early English (1963), citing Bailey.
  • Evidence of actual usage seems scant until it was picked up by various "interesting word" websites around the turn of the twenty-first century.

Quotations
  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:epicaricacy.

Synonyms

Translations
rejoicing at or deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others — see schadenfreude

See also

References
  • Bailey, Nathan (1737) Universal Etymological English Dictionary‎, London
  • Bailey, Nathan (1751) Dictionarium Britannicum, London
  • Shipley, Joseph T. (1955) Dictionary of Early English, Philosophical Library, →ISBN
  • Novobatzky, Peter; Shea, Ammon (1955) Depraved and Insulting English, Harvest Books, →ISBN

Further reading
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