Make Your Point: VORFREUDE

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pronounce VORFREUDE:

for FROY duh

connect this word to others:

I love Vorfreude, both the word and the concept! It's anticipatory joy: the happiness of looking forward to something.

See if you can recall these other German words for types of joy:

1. "Harm joy," or the happiness you feel when someone who deserves trouble gets it, is Sch____freude.

2. "Joy joy," or the joy of seeing someone else be lucky, happy, or successful, is fr_____freude.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Vorfreude" is German for "anticipatory joy," or more literally, "before-joy."

While it's not commonly used in either English or German, it's a lovely word that some English speakers have embraced. It gets included on lists of cool words from other languages that have no precise equivalents in English.

So, when you want a word for the feeling of happy anticipation as you look forward to something, call it Vorfreude.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun: "Let's just bask in the Vorfreude for a moment;" "Here are 30 simple ways to get more vorfreude in your life" (The Guardian).

Other forms:

You can italicize it if you want to emphasize its foreignness: "I savored the Vorfreude."

And you can use a lowercase letter if you want to downplay its foreignness: "I savored the vorfreude."

how to use it:

If you enjoy labeling feelings and experiences with extremely specific terms, and if you don't mind thieving them from other languages when necessary, then you'll love "Vorfreude."

You might talk about people seeking, cultivating, experiencing, or savoring Vorfreude. Or you might talk about events and situations that invite or stimulate Vorfreude, such as booking a vacation; planning a wedding; or imagining an upcoming meal, date, concert, or party.

examples:

"[Vorfreude] struck me as such a hopeful concept – surely we could all do with less schadenfreude and more vorfreude... This can boost your mood, reduce your stress levels and help to avoid burnout."
— Rachel Dixon, The Guardian, 9 April 2024

"For me, the magic of Vorfreude lies in how it stretches out the pleasure of any upcoming event or experience. Once I hit 'Confirm' to book a trip, it kicks off joy for months whenever I think about the trip."
— Jono Hey, Sketchplanations, 6 October 2024

has this page helped you understand "Vorfreude"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "Vorfreude" without saying "preliminary joy" or "happy anticipation."

try it out:

In her blog "Untranslatable," Kristin Wong wrote about the concept of Vorfreude, saying:

"With a few notable exceptions, the thing I'm looking forward to is never as good as the looking forward to it."

Talk about whether or not you feel the same. In other words, which thing provides you more joy: delightful events themselves, or the Vorfreude leading up to them?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "Stop, Drop, & Anagram!"

I’ll give you an 8-letter word, along with a quote with a blank in it. Your job is to drop a letter from the word, then reassemble it into the 7-letter word that fits meaningfully into the blank. You'll find the answer at the bottom of the issue. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

LITERARY.

"When Apple unveiled the Vision Pro virtual _______ goggles last year at a technology conference, many in the audience gasped at the price: $3,500."
— Brian X. Chen, New York Times, 31 January 2024

review this word:

1. A near opposite of VORFREUDE is

A. FRISSONS: quick, sudden shivers of strong emotion.
B. ANTICIPATORY GRIEF: sadness that you experience even before its cause takes place.
C. JAMAIS VU: the weird feeling that you're seeing or experiencing something for the first time, even though you're not.

2. I have this wonderful memory of Vorfreude from elementary school: _____.

A. my beloved first grade teacher came to dinner at my house; we had fajitas and then she snuggled McKenzie, a tiny kitten at the time
B. I had placed a Scholastic order for new books and I knew they would arrive soon, crisp and exciting and smelling like fresh glue
C. my mom helped me decorate a 3x5 index card holder with beautiful plastic gems, and that's where I kept my vocabulary words, each with their own illustration

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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