freeter

F4R1E1E1T1E1R1

noun

In Japan, a young person (typically between the ages of 15-34) who lacks full-time employment (excluding housewives and students), especially through lack of interest in a career.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

nounfreeter (plural freeters)

plural freeters

  1. In Japan, a young person (typically between the ages of 15-34) who lacks full-time employment (excluding housewives and students), especially through lack of interest in a career.
    1 more example

    The average freeter lives at home, earns about $1,000 a month, and stays in a job about nine months, according to surveys conducted by the Recruit Corporation, Japan's largest job placement company. Recruit estimates that 3.4 million Japanese, aged 19 to 30, are freeters, working part time or at temporary jobs.

    2001 October 16, James Brooke, “Young Japanese Breaking Old Salaryman's Bonds”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Origin

  1. GermanArbeiter“labourer”
  2. Englishfree
  3. Japaneseフリーター
  4. Englishfreeter

Borrowed from Japanese フリーター (furītā), possibly from English free and German Arbeiter (“labourer”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

freeter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/freeter

MLA

“freeter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/freeter. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “freeter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/freeter.

Source: freeter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.