time and effort; trouble
Refers to the considerable time and effort required for a task, often implying it is laborious or troublesome.
この料理は手間暇がかかる。
This dish takes a lot of time and effort.
手
The work I put time and effort into was appreciated.
Standard kanji spelling.
Mixed kanji-kana spelling, sometimes used for readability.
Rare variant using 隙 instead of 暇.
Compound of 手間 (time/labor) and 暇 (time/leisure), together emphasizing the investment of both time and effort.