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Definition 2024

懈怠

懈怠

Chinese

lax; negligent
 
idle; lazy; negligent; careless
simp. and trad.
(懈怠) 		懈 怠

Adjective

懈怠

  1. slack, sluggish

Verb

懈怠

  1. to relax, to slack off

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
懈 怠
かい
Hyōgaiji 		たい
Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese compound 懈怠 ‎(hɛX doiX, literally “idle + negligent”). The kan'on, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

Noun

懈怠 ‎(hiragana かいたい, romaji kaitai)

  1. (law) laches: a kind of lapse wherein an opposing party has neglected to invoke its rights within a certain period of time
  2. (civil law) negligence
  3. laziness, idleness, carelessness
Usage notes

The Japanese Wikipedia article 懈怠 (法学) describing the legal laches and negligence senses uses the ketai reading. However, dictionaries tend to list kaitai as the primary reading for the legal senses.[1][2]

Synonyms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
懈 怠
け
Hyōgaiji 		たい
Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese compound 懈怠 ‎(hɛX doiX, literally “idle + negligent”). A mixed reading, so likely a later development within Japanese. Uses the goon of ke for the first half, and the kan'on of tai for the second half.

Pronunciation

Noun

懈怠 ‎(hiragana けたい, romaji ketai)

  1. laziness, idleness, carelessness
  2. (law) laches: a kind of lapse wherein an opposing party has neglected to invoke its rights within a certain period of time
  3. (civil law) negligence
  4. (Buddhism) spiritual slothfulness: kausidya
Usage notes

The kedai reading below is more common for the Buddhist spiritual slothfulness sense.

Synonyms

Verb

懈怠する ‎(hiragana けたいする, romaji ketai suru)

  1. to be lazy, to be careless
Conjugation
Synonyms

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
懈 怠
け
Hyōgaiji 		だい
Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese compound 懈怠 ‎(hɛX doiX, literally “idle + negligent”). The goon, so likely the original borrowing.

Pronunciation

Noun

懈怠 ‎(hiragana けだい, romaji kedai)

  1. (Buddhism) spiritual slothfulness: kausidya
  2. laziness, idleness, carelessness
Usage notes

The ketai reading above is more common for the laziness sense.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. ↑ 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0

Pronunciation

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