Translation guide
Ways to express lack of activity, idleness, or dormancy in Japanese, from personal laziness to machine idle states.
Describing a person not doing anything productive, being lazy, or inactive by choice.
Formal noun meaning laziness or idleness. Often used in written or serious contexts.
Describing machines, systems, or natural things that are not active or in a resting state.
Suspension or pause of activity, often for machines or services.
Describing a situation where nothing is happening, or a person is not moving.
English 'inactivity' often becomes a phrase in Japanese. Using a direct noun like 不活動 (ふかつどう) can sound unnatural outside technical contexts. Instead, describe the state with verbs or adjectives.
He has been inactive lately.
His laziness is a problem.
Literally 'do nothing'. A natural, everyday way to say someone is inactive.
He does nothing on his days off.
Idleness or inactivity, often with a philosophical nuance. Rare in daily conversation.
Spend one's days in idleness.
The system is currently inactive.
Dormancy, like a sleeping state. Used for animals, plants, or sometimes accounts.
Bears are dormant during winter.
Inactivity in a technical sense, like a computer state. Not common in daily speech.
The inactive state continues.
There is no activity in the market.
Stillness, standstill. Often used for physical objects or graphs.
The object is at rest.