English · Slang Attested

filipino time

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A notional system of time which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to Filipinos, and which they sometimes jocularly ascribe to themselves, to account for their supposed tendency to be leisurely, not rigorous about scheduling, and often tardy.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Hệ thống thời gian không nghiêm ngặt, thường bị chậm

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Examples

What is time? What is "Filipino" time? How can we manage "Filipino" time? Time is a succession of moments with a starting point and an ending point. Thus when we say that the working time is eight hours, it can mean that the work starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m. This is the western concept

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Topics: Time

Common questions

What does “filipino time” mean?

Is “filipino time” formal or informal?

filipino time is generally derogatory, slang.