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闲工夫 (xián gōng fū) — leisure time

Definition

闲工夫 is a casual colloquial noun for 'free time / spare time' — implies the leisure to do something extra, not just idle moments. It pairs with 有/没有 + verb rather than marking empty time itself.

noun
leisure time

Examples

  • 闲工夫，。
    Tā méi yǒu xián gōng fū, yīn wèi gōng zuò tài duō.
    He has no leisure time because there is too much work.
  • 闲工夫。
    Wǒ xǐ huan zhōu mò de xián gōng fū.
    I like leisure time on weekends.
  • 闲工夫。
    Tuì xiū hòu tā zhōng yú yǒu le hěn duō xián gōng fū.
    After retirement, he finally has a lot of leisure time.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

闲xiánleisure
工夫time
工gōng夫fū

闲 specifies leisure for 工夫, which refers to time.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 閒; 闲 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 閒 puts 月 (moon) inside 門 (door), as if moonlight peeks through a door; this picture gives the idea of a gap or space. The simplified 闲 is a later abbreviation.

Open 闲 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

Open 工 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
Time (Abstract)

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