A sadist takes pleasure in inflicting suffering; a masochist in receiving it. The direction is the whole distinction. Both words come from the names of writers — the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch — and both are used far more loosely in everyday speech than in clinical writing.
The core difference
- sadist — derives pleasure from causing pain or humiliation to another.
- masochist — derives pleasure from experiencing it.
Two writers, two words
Both terms were coined by the psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1886, and both are eponyms.
Sadism is from the Marquis de Sade, an eighteenth-century French aristocrat and novelist who spent much of his life imprisoned and whose books catalogue cruelty at length. Masochism is from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a nineteenth-century Austrian writer whose novella Venus in Furs centres on a man arranging his own subjugation. Sacher-Masoch was alive when the term was coined and objected to it strongly.
Everyday use versus clinical use
In ordinary speech both are mild and usually figurative — calling a demanding coach a sadist, or someone who enjoys long-distance running a masochist. No clinical claim is intended.
Clinically the terms are narrower, and the modern framing separates consensual practice from disorder: a diagnosis requires distress or harm, not merely a preference. The older assumption that any such interest was pathological has been substantially revised.
Sadomasochism, and the compound
Sadomasochism combines the two on the observation that the roles are complementary and that individuals may move between them. Algolagnia is the rarer clinical term for pleasure associated with pain, from Greek algos, pain.
Everyday sadism
Research psychology uses the phrase everyday sadism for taking pleasure in others' discomfort in ordinary settings, and groups it with narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy in what is called the dark tetrad. This is measured as a personality trait rather than diagnosed as a condition.
A note on eponyms
English does this regularly: boycott, lynch, chauvinist, guillotine and silhouette are all people's names. Sade and Sacher-Masoch are unusual only in that both gave their names to matched opposites.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a sadist and a masochist?
Direction. A sadist takes pleasure in inflicting suffering; a masochist in receiving it.
Where do the words come from?
Both were coined by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1886, from the writers the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Sacher-Masoch was alive and objected.
Are these clinical terms?
They have clinical uses, but a diagnosis requires distress or harm rather than a preference. In everyday speech both are used loosely and figuratively.