忙(せわ)しい

せわしい

i-adjective

busy; hurried; restless

Conjugation

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	忙(せわ)しい	忙(せわ)しくない
Past	忙(せわ)しかった	忙(せわ)しくなかった
て form	忙(せわ)しくて	忙(せわ)しくなくて
Adverbial	忙(せわ)しく	—
Conditional ば	忙(せわ)しければ	忙(せわ)しくなければ
Conditional たら	忙(せわ)しかったら	忙(せわ)しくなかったら

1. busy; hurried; restless

Describes a situation or a person's movements as rushed and without pause. Unlike 忙(いそが)しい, which simply reports having a lot to do, 忙(せわ)しい conveys the unsettled, hurried feel of it.

年末(ねんまつ)は忙(せわ)しい。

The end of the year is hectic.

忙(せわ)しく動(うご)き回(まわ)る店員(てんいん)を見(み)ていた。

I was watching the shop staff bustling about.

都会(とかい)の忙(せわ)しい暮(く)らしに疲(つか)れて、田舎(いなか)に引(ひ)っ越(こ)すことにした。

Worn out by the restless pace of city life, I decided to move to the countryside.

Written with the same kanji as 忙(いそが)しい but read せわしい; the reading is usually clear from context, and writers often use kana to avoid ambiguity.

Common collocations

忙(せわ)しく働(はたら)く: to work at a hurried pace
忙(せわ)しい毎日(まいにち): hectic days
気(き)ぜわしい: fidgety, on edge (a related compound)

Similar words

忙(せわ)しない: restless, fidgety — the more common form in speech; nearly the same meaning despite the ない ending
忙(いそが)しい: busy — neutral report of having much to do, without the restless nuance

general

Added 2026.8.2 18:20 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02

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