1.
free time
Time when one has nothing to do.
暇 works as a noun (free time) and as a na-adjective (not busy).
Usage
- As a na-adjective it modifies with な: 暇な時 (when you are free)
- As a noun it pairs with ある and ない: 暇がある (to have time to spare)
- Calling someone else 暇な人 can imply they have nothing worth doing, so with a superior or a customer ask 時間があるか instead. Said of yourself, 暇です is friendly and completely normal.
Common collocations
- 暇がある / 暇がない: to have / not have free time
- 暇をつぶす, 暇つぶし: to kill time; a time-killer
- お暇ですか: are you free? (the honorific お goes on when the time is someone else's)
SAME KANJI, DIFFERENT READING:
The polite phrase for taking one's leave is お暇する, read おいとま, not おひま. The kanji is shared; the reading and the meaning are not.
Similar words
忙しい (busy) is the everyday opposite. Note that it is an i-adjective while 暇 is a na-adjective, so the two do not conjugate alike.