hawaiian time

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

Meaning · English

A notional system of time which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to Hawaiians, 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 được cho là của người Hawaii, thường bị coi là thiếu nghiêm ngặt về lịch trình và thường xuyên chậm trễ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Register: derogatory, slang

Where it’s used: Used American English
Sources & notes

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

Common questions

What does “hawaiian time” mean?

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

Is “hawaiian time” formal or informal?

hawaiian time is generally derogatory, slang.