2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future

F is for Firgun

I saw this word for the first time yesterday and I immediately knew it needed to be part of the Lexicon of Future.

Firgun — a vicarious, ungrudging joy for someone else or pride in another person’s accomplishments. The concept doesn’t have an exact one-word translation in English.

“It describes a generosity of spirit, an unselfish, empathetic joy that something good has happened, or might happen, to another person,” writes Israeli-born U.S. journalist Irin Carmon, adding that she had once “incompletely” translated firgun as “the opposite of schadenfreude.”

Lefargen, to use the infinitive, is to make someone feel good without any ulterior motives or nasty thoughts. This absence of negativity is an integral part of genuine firgun. ~ Firgun: The Art of Tooting Someone Else’s Horn