also: かんもんじ
idle words; useless words; empty words
Refers to words or phrases in a written passage that are unnecessary, redundant, or add no meaning. Often used in literary or editorial contexts.
This passage has many idle words and lacks conciseness.
The editor removed the empty words and cleaned up the manuscript.
無駄口 means idle chatter or useless talk, focusing on spoken words, whereas 閑文字 is about written text.
Standard kanji spelling; the reading かんもじ is more common than かんもんじ.
Alternate reading; less common and may be considered non-standard.
Compound of 閑 (kan, 'leisure' or 'idle') and 文字 (moji, 'character' or 'writing'). The exact origin is uncertain, but it likely arose in literary criticism to describe unnecessary written words.