Loanwords – Will the Word ‘Schadenfreude’ Be Understood in English Text?

loanwords

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.

Best Answer

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".

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