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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

幸災樂禍

/ɕiŋ⁵¹ t͡saɪ̯⁵⁵ lɤ⁵¹⁻⁵³ xu̯ɔ⁵¹/
to take joy in calamity and rejoice the disaster; schadenfreude
  • 幸灾乐祸
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The phrase describes finding pleasure in the sight of a disaster, symbolized by the observer watching a house fire.
The phrase describes finding pleasure in the sight of a disaster, symbolized by the observer watching a house fire.

Origin

The phrase 幸災樂禍 is extracted from two paragraphs in the Zuo Zhuan. The component 幸災 refers to being happy when seeing others in difficulty, according to the Guoyu Dictionary, while 樂禍 refers to taking pleasure in others' misfortunes. Together, the phrase describes seeing someone encounter a disaster and, instead of feeling sympathy, finding joy in it.

The phrase is formed with several characters. 災 (calamity; disaster; catastrophe) contains the semantic component 火 (fire; flame) and the phonetic component 𡿧 (flood calamity). 樂 (music; tune; melody; song) consists of the components 絲 (silk) and 木 (tree; woody plant), where 絲 is further composed of 糸 (thin silk). 禍 (disaster; misfortune; calamity) uses the semantic component 示 (to show; to reveal; to indicate; to notify; to instruct) and the phonetic component 咼 (slanting). The character 咼 contains the semantic component 口 (mouth) and the phonetic component 冎 (bone). The phrase also includes 幸 (by fluke; lucky).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

此成語出自《左傳》。其中「幸災」見於《左傳．僖公十四年》，指見人有難而高興；「樂禍」見於《左傳．莊公二十年》，指見人有難而引以為樂。該詞由「幸」、「災」、「樂」、「禍」四個字組成。「幸」意為僥倖或幸運；「災」指災難或災禍，由「火」作為意義組成部分，並以「𡿧」作為聲音組成部分。

「樂」字包含「絲」與「木」兩個組成部分，其中「絲」由「糸」構成。而「禍」字則由「示」作為意義組成部分，並以「咼」作為聲音組成部分。在「咼」字中，「口」為意義組成部分，而「冎」則是其聲音組成部分。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese幸 “by fluke; lucky”
  • characterChinese災 “calamity; disaster; catastrophe”
    • soundChinese𡿧 “flood calamity”
    • meaningChinese火 “fire; flame (Classifier: 把 m; 團／团 m)”
  • characterChinese樂 “music; tune; melody; song”
    • ideaChinese絲 “silk (fibre, cloth, fabrics, etc.)”
      • ideaChinese糸 “thin silk”
    • ideaChinese木 “tree; woody plant”
  • characterChinese禍 “disaster; misfortune; calamity”
    • meaningChinese示 “to show; to reveal; to indicate; to notify; to instruct”
    • soundChinese咼 “slanting”
      • soundChinese冎 “bone”
      • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
Wiktionary etymology text

Extracted from two paragraphs in Zuo Zhuan

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

phrase
  1. to take joy in calamity and rejoice the disaster; schadenfreude

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 幸災，見人有難而高興，語出《左傳．僖公十四年》。樂禍，見人有難而引以為樂，語出《左傳．莊公二十年》。幸災樂禍指見到他人遭遇災禍，不但不同情，反而引以為樂。 例：別人有困難，理應盡力幫忙，豈可幸災樂禍。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 幸災樂禍