幸灾乐祸
- Literal
- rejoicing at disaster, delighting in misfortune
- Figurative
- To take pleasure in someone else's misfortune and enjoy watching them struggle; it is said in reproach. Schadenfreude, in a word.
Where does 幸灾乐祸 come from?
It comes from the Zuozhuan, under the fourteenth year of Duke Xi. A year earlier, when the state of Jin was suffering famine, Qin had sent it grain. Now it was Qin that was starving and asking for help, but Jin refused. The minister Qing Zheng warned that turning your back on a favor leaves you friendless and that rejoicing at a neighbor's disaster is inhumane, and he asked how a state could defend itself that way. No one listened, and the following year Qin attacked Jin and captured its duke. The idiom grew out of that 幸灾, "rejoicing at disaster," later paired with 乐祸, also found in the Zuozhuan; today it reproaches anyone who enjoys other people's troubles.
Source (出处): 《左传·僖公十四年》
How is 幸灾乐祸 used? Two examples
- 同事被老板骂了，他在一旁偷笑，一副幸灾乐祸的样子。
When our coworker got chewed out by the boss, he sat there snickering, clearly enjoying every minute of it.
- 弟弟摔了一跤，你不扶他起来，还在那儿幸灾乐祸！
Your little brother fell over, and instead of helping him up you're standing there gloating!
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