LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“leisure” in Latin

The English word leisure itself goes back to Latin licēre.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

leisure
otium: tempus otii: tempus labore (poetical laboris) or negotiis vacuum: tempus vacuum: *facultas vacui ac liberi temporis (the power of employing one’s time as one likes). Perfect leisure from all public duties, omnium munerum vacatio: litterary leisure, otium litteratum: having or being at leisure, otiosus: vacuus negotiis: vacuus: to have plenty of leisure, multum otii habere: otio abundare or diffluere: to have no leisure time, temporis vacui nihil habere: to have leisure for anything, otium habere ad aliquid: I have no leisure for a thing, aliquid faciendi otium non est: to be at leisure, vacare: vacuum esse (to have one’s time free, opposed to occupatio, which compels one to work); otiari: otiosum esse: otium habere, otium est alicui (to be at leisure; opposed to negotia, which oblige one to work); feriari: ferias agere (to enjoy a holiday; opposed to working all day); cessare (to make a half-holiday, and enjoy a short cessation; opposed to previous activity); nihil agere (to be doing nothing; opposed to activity in general): when I am more at leisure, cum plus otii nactus ero; si plus otii habuero: I have not leisure enough to undertake such a task, occupata opera tanta res suscipi a me non potest: to get leisure, otium nancisci: in otium venire: otium alicui contingit: when I get any leisure, ubi quid otii datur: all the leisure time that is left from my public duties, quantum mihi otii respublica tribuet: to spend one’s leisure time in anything, otium conferre ad aliquid; otium consumere, collocare, or conterere in aliqua re: how could I employ my present leisure better? ubi enim melius uti possumus hoc otio? leisure hours, tempus ab opere or negotiis vacuum: otium: tempora subsiciva (when one is occupied with what is not his chief business: labor in such hours, operae subsicivae).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for leisure?
The usual Latin words for “leisure” are ōtium, ōtiōsus, vacuus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.