Sado

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterizing a person who derives pleasure from inflicting pain or humiliation on others; relating to a condition where enjoyment is found in the suffering of others; denoting a tendency toward cruelty and domination in interpersonal relationships
2. Pertaining to individuals who gain sexual gratification from the act of causing pain; describing a psychological disposition focused on the subjugation of others; reflecting an attraction to sadistic practices in various contexts
3. Involving the practice of finding delight in cruelty or the suffering of others; referring to behaviors that are driven by an urge to exert control through pain; encapsulating a mindset where harm becomes a source of enjoyment

Etymology: "Sado" in English is a clipped form of "sadism," which the source ties to the Japanese 茶道 (sadō), "the way of tea," the name of the formal Japanese tea ceremony. Read literally, the two words share nothing, and the link is a matter of spelling: the Japanese word is pronounced "sah-doh," so "sado" with a Western reading of the letters resembles the French-derived "sadism" only by sound, not by meaning. The adjective here is therefore a shortened, clipped form of the sadism family, not a native Japanese term. The English route runs through the Marquis de Sade, the eighteenth-century French writer whose novels depicted cruelty as pleasure, and from his name came "sadism," the pleasure of inflicting pain. The word "sado" as used in English is a later shortening of that word, applied as an adjective to behaviour, mindsets and practices that centre on delight in harming others or on using pain to assert control.

Synonyms: sadistic, cruel, brutal, merciless, harsh

Antonyms: kind, gentle, compassionate, tender, merciful