Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having spare time, having nothing better to do: Describes a state of being idle, having free time, or lacking more important or productive activities to occupy oneself. It often carries a negative or dismissive connotation, implying the time is being wasted or used frivolously.
   • Having time to waste: Specifically refers to having time that one can afford to spend on trivial, unnecessary, or foolish matters.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Ai mà rỗi hơi đi làm việc đó! (Who has time to waste doing that!)
  • Anh ta thật rỗi hơi khi ngồi đếm từng chiếc lá rơi. (He is truly idle/has too much time on his hands, sitting there counting every falling leaf.)
  • Đừng có rỗi hơi mà đi nói chuyện phiếm. (Don't be so free as to go gossip.)

Advanced Usage

• "Chẳng ai rỗi hơi đâu": Nobody has time for that/No one is that idle.
  • Chẳng ai rỗi hơi mà nghe anh phàn nàn cả ngày đâu. (Nobody has the time to listen to you complain all day.)
• Used primarily in negative or rhetorical constructions to express that an action is not worth one's time or is foolish to engage in.

Variants and Related Words

• Rảnh rỗi (adj): Free, not busy. This is a more neutral term for having free time, without the strong negative connotation of "rỗi hơi."
  • Cuối tuần tôi thường rảnh rỗi. (I am usually free on weekends.)
• Hết hơi (adj/phrase): To be exhausted, out of breath. (Note: This is a different idiom, not a variant of "rỗi hơi," but shares the word "hơi.")

Synonyms

• Rảnh việc: Free from work, having no tasks.
• Vô công rồi nghề: Idle, unoccupied, without a proper job or purpose (stronger negative connotation).

Related Phrases

• Rỗi hơi sinh nông nổi: An idiom meaning "Idleness breeds mischief" or "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." It suggests that having too much free time can lead to foolish or troublesome actions.

1. Waste one's time (on something)
   • Ai mà rỗi hơi làm việc đó!
     Who can afford to waste his time on that!